Case · C-082

The spiral of October 9, 2017 over Argentina, Uruguay and Chile: a Japanese rocket

General Ramírez (Entre Ríos) and wide areas of Argentina, Uruguay and Chile · Argentina · Oct 9, 2017

In flight Civilian witnesses Video Photos

What happened

At about 19:40 on October 9, 2017, numerous witnesses in the provinces of Córdoba, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos and Buenos Aires, as well as in Uruguay and Chile, saw a large luminous spiral in the sky; two volunteer firefighters filmed it at General Ramírez and a photo was taken in Montevideo. The CEFAe of the Argentine Air Force recognized in the spiral shape the typical effect of fuel venting from rocket upper stages and linked the event to the launch of a Japanese H-2A that took place at 19:00 Argentine time, concluding that the phenomenon had a known origin.

Proposed explanation

According to the CEFAe, based on the trajectory calculation provided by the Canadian analyst Ted Molczan, the spiral was the venting of residual propellant from an upper stage of the Japanese H-2A rocket launched 40 minutes earlier from Tanegashima with the navigation satellite Michibiki 4.

Official investigation

Fuerza Aérea Argentina – Commission for the Study of Aerospace Phenomena (CEFAe)

Words of the document

fue producto de un venteo del combustible remanente

Official documents

1. Informe CEFAe 2017 – Caso avistamiento masivo del 9/10/2017 · Fuerza Aérea Argentina – CEFAe · 2017

Sources

1. Fuerza Aérea Argentina, Informe CEFAe 2017 (primary source)

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