I’ve seen speculation that it’s a helium tank from a Kosmos 1686. It’s just the right size, and the sizes & shapes of the inlet & outlet connections match well too. (See the sixth and eighth images on the linked page.)
You don’t have to go to Namibia to get one. You can order your very own mysterious round metallic tank from these guys.
These tanks all look pretty similiar, and are constructed in the same fashion, i.e. explosively formed hemispheres welded together with ports and mounting features at the poles. It could be from any of a number of launch or space vehicles.
Stranger
I was thinking more about the size matching–that tank was measured with exactly the same diameter (to the precision reported) and a very similar mass to the unknown one. So it’s more likely than the Ariane 5 component, which is much larger. Still, I’m sure you’re right–there are undoubtedly many other possibilities given the limited information available.
Couple of pics of similar shaped but different sized rocket tanks described as being Russian:
Somebody call for a DJ?
As I said on my FB page, it’s just aliens playing their version of water balloons.
Basically
Thanks
Q
The Gods Must Be Crazy ? I love that movie.