It wasn’t at orbital speeds yet.
Over 21000km/h when it broke up, compared to ~28k for stuff orbiting in LEO. Should still go quite far.
Yes, although drag is gonna be… substantially higher like this as well.
Does melting down not reshape metallic particles into ideal droplett parts ?
No.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/02/world/africa/kenya-space-...