Falling space debris from the ISS highlights unanticipated risk to Earth. A potentially dangerous released pallet of batteries.
The battery pallet released in 2021. (NASA)
The fall of space debris towards Earth is a phenomenon that worries experts more and more, since although the friction of the atmosphere should burn and destroy them, sometimes this does not happen. A recent case that has caught NASA’s attention involves a piece of a battery pallet released in 2021, which may have fallen through the roof of a house in Naples, Florida, on March 8.
The batteries in question had been used on the International Space Station (ISS) for years, and once they became obsolete, an entire pallet of them was dropped from the ISS. The goal was to have it orbit the Earth for a while, but friction with the thinner layers of the atmosphere would eventually cause it to fall.
Mission controllers in Houston gave the order to the Canadarm2 robotic arm to release the external pallet loaded with old nickel-hydrogen batteries into Earth orbit. NASA predicted that the object would continue to orbit safely for two to four years before burning up in the atmosphere.
However, not everything went as planned. Despite expectations of atmospheric combustion, about half a ton of the total 2.6 tons of batteries appears to have survived the reentry process. This emerged as the object descended towards Earth, as reported by astronomer Jonathan McDowell on Twitter.and confirmed by the European Space Agency.
The total mass of the batteries was estimated at 2.6 metric tons, with the majority expected to burn up during reentry. Although some parts could reach the ground, the risk of harm to people was assessed as very low.
It was thanks to McDowell that the case emerged of a piece of the pallet that fell through the roof and two floors of a house in Naples, almost hitting the owner’s son. This led to collaboration between the owner, the Aerospace Corporation and NASA to analyze the object and determine its origin.
NASA confirmed that it has recovered the object and will analyze it at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to obtain further information. At the moment, it is not clear who is responsible for the damage caused by the falling space debris, but NASA is committed to clarifying the issue.
This episode is reminiscent of a previous case in which the space station was fined for dropping space debris on Earth, but did not pay the fine. The issue of space debris therefore remains a topic of great relevance and relevance for the scientific community and for the safety of people on Earth.
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