The space agency collected the object for examination at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, where it was identified as a metal support once used to mount old batteries on a cargo pallet destined for disposal.This pallet had been jettisoned from the space station back in 2021, with expectations that it would completely disintegrate upon re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere. However, a fragment survived and resulted in the damage to Otero’s property.
The debris, composed of the metal alloy Inconel, weighed 1.6 pounds and measured 4 inches in height and approximately 1.5 inches in diameter. Nasa has committed to investigating why this piece of debris was not fully destroyed in the atmosphere and will update its engineering models to better manage such risks in the future.
“I was shaking. I was completely in disbelief. What are the chances of something landing on my house with such force to cause so much damage,” Otero told WINK television. He expressed his relief that no one was injured during the incident.
The report from Ars Technica pointed out that while the batteries were owned by Nasa, they were mounted on a pallet structure launched by Japan’s space agency, which could lead to complexities in liability claims. Instances of manmade space debris reaching Earth are rare but not unprecedented, with notable cases including parts of a SpaceX Dragon capsule landing in Australia and fragments of Skylab falling in Western Australia.
This recent event has also reignited discussions about space agencies’ responsibilities to minimize risks associated with space debris, especially following critiques of China’s handling of its Long March rockets’ re-entry.
(With inputs from agencies)
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