A piece of metal crashed into a home in Florida and is believed to have come from a 5,800-pound battery platform discarded by the International Space Station (ISS).
Alejandro Otero, the owner of a house in Naples, was on vacation when he received a call from his son, saying that he heard a “tremendous sound” and that there were large holes in the ceiling and floor, while explaining that what fell almost hit him .
NASA has since recovered the two-pound cylindrical object to determine its origin, and if it is found to be space debris, the agency could be liable for the damages.
NASA launched the platform in 2021, expecting it to remain in orbit for two to four years before re-entering Earth’s atmosphere in a controlled manner, but the unguided attempt caused it to make an unplanned and off-track landing.
A two-pound object crashed into a man’s home in Naples, Florida, earlier this month, prompting a NASA investigation into the origin of space debris.
Space debris crashed through Alejandro Otero’s roof and through his floor (pictured) into the basement.
NASA spokesman Joshua Finch told Dailymail.com: “NASA collected an object in cooperation with the owner and will analyze the object at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as soon as possible to determine its origin.”
He added: “More information will be available once the analysis is complete.”
The battery platform was supposed to burn up over Ft. Myers, instead it landed off course on March 8 because astronomers had wrongly estimated the time it would re-enter Earth’s atmosphere.
Otero shared photos of the object in X, asking someone to connect him to NASA and astronomer Jonathan McDowell answeredtelling him that it was probably an EP-9 platform that re-entered the Gulf of Mexico, between Cancún and Cuba.
McDowell said it was supposed to enter the atmosphere just before 7:30 p.m. UTC, but its path toward Ft. Myers was just a prediction window, adding that “a couple of minutes later it would have returned and reached Ft. Myers.”
“Something went through the house and then made a big hole in the floor and ceiling,” Otero said. WINK News.
“When we heard that, we thought, impossible, and I immediately thought of a meteorite.”
Alejandro Otero said the object almost hit his son when it fell through the roof (pictured). Otero said his son called him while he was on vacation after hearing a ‘tremendous sound’
The object finally stopped once it reached Otero’s basement (pictured), breaking through the concrete and damaging his home. The federal government could be responsible for damage to Otero’s house if it is discovered that the battery was owned by NASA
The metal object weighed about two pounds, according to Otero, who described it as “an apparent cylindrical-shaped man-made object.”
‘I was shaking. “I was in complete disbelief,” Otero told WINK.
‘What are the chances of something falling on my house with that much force and causing that much damage?’
“I’m very thankful that no one was hurt.”
NASA released the platform (pictured) from the International Space Station in 2021 and said it would orbit Earth for two to four years before re-entering the atmosphere.
There are more than 30,000 pieces of space junk circling Earth’s orbit and posing a huge risk of that debris re-entering the atmosphere.
Otero is waiting to hear from NASA and other responsible agencies to resolve the damage to his home, writing that “their assistance is crucial to resolving the damage from this deliberate release.”
He continued: “But the most important thing is how to organize the payload in the future so that it burns in its entirety when it comes back in.”
The federal government could be liable for damage to Otero’s home under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which states that any negligent or wrongful act would make it liable for its destruction.
In 2021, NASA told ISS astronauts to release the Japanese-owned cargo pad containing nine old batteries that would remain in orbit for two to four years before crash landing back to Earth.
The space agency said Space flights now at the time they expected the platform to burn up “harmlessly” when it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere, but did not know how many pieces of the batteries or the platform would remain intact.
However, although NASA owned the battery, the Japanese space agency launched the platform to which they were connected, which could put the country at fault.
“It becomes more interesting if you discover that this material is not native to the United States,” said Michelle Hanlon, executive director of the Center for Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi. Ars Technique.
“If it is a man-made space object that was launched into space by another country and caused damage to Earth, that country would be absolutely responsible to its owner for the damage caused.”
Space debris is any disused equipment in space and there are currently more than 30,000 objects trapped in orbit that may fall back to Earth within several years.
Although most space debris burns up upon reentry, a 2023 report by the Federal Aviation Authority warned that surviving debris could kill or injure someone every two years by 2035.