A family in Florida has filed a lawsuit against the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) over a piece of space junk from the International Space Station (ISS) that landed on their home. This rare incident has raised concerns about the growing state of space junk, posing a challenge for space agencies to ensure the safety of people on Earth.
On a day earlier this year, residents in the city of Naples, Florida (USA) could not help but be shocked when a cylindrical object weighing nearly 1 kg suddenly fell through the roof of a family, creating a large hole in the ceiling and floor. It is worth mentioning that the incident coincided with the time when a large number of old batteries from the ISS returned to the Earth’s atmosphere and fell down to the southwest Florida area. Shortly after the incident occurred, the host reported the incident to NASA. The agency later recovered the object for analysis and confirmed that it was a piece of debris from a device that supports battery mounting on the block cargo pallets discharged from the ISS.
Lawyer Mica Nguyen Worthy, who represented the victim’s family, said: “Space waste is a real and serious problem caused by theThere has been an increase in space traffic in recent years. My clients are demanding adequate compensation for the strains and the impact that this event had on their lives. “They’re thankful that no one was physically injured, but a near-death situation like this could have caused disaster.” It is known that at the time of the incident, the son of the owner Alejandro Otero was at home alone but luckily did not get hurt. The debris left a large hole from the roof through the floor. The family is currently seeking compensation for property damage, emotional loss, and support costs from third parties.
According to information from NASA, the pallet containing 9 batteries, weighing about 2,600 kg, is the heaviest piece of waste ever discharged from the ISS. It was released by the robotic arm Canadarm2 in March 2021 and was left in free fall towards Earth. At around 3:29 p.m. on March 8, The pallet returned to Earth’s atmosphere and landed somewhere above the Gulf of Mexico. Initially, experts calculated that the entire pallet block would completely ignite when friction with the atmosphere, At the same time, the probability of debris “surviving” high temperatures and falling into an inhabited area is very low.
However, the above case has shown that those calculations are not absolute. According to statistics, on average, about 200-400 man-made objects return to the Earth’s atmosphere each year.the probability of casualty risk is 1 in 10,000 for an uncontrolled free fall (according to the European Space Agency). NASA also affirmed: “NASA remains committed to operating responsibly in low-Earth orbit and minimizing risks to humans. people on Earth when they have to free up space hardware.”
This rare incident once again sounded the alarm about the increasing situation of space waste. This is considered the first case in which NASA has been sued for causing damage caused by space junk, setting a precedent for similar cases in the background of the Earth’s orbit is increasingly polluted by garbage. Most likely, NASA will have to compensate the victim’s family.