On March 8, a piece of space debris fell off a roof in Naples, Florida, blowing two floors and (thankfully) released son of host Alejandro Otero. Tuesday, NASA confirmed event analysis results. As suspected, it’s a piece of equipment thrown from there International Space Station (ISS) three years ago.
An examination of the object at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral confirmed that it was a piece of EP-9 support equipment used to mount batteries on a cargo pallet, which the ISS’s robotic arm dropped on March 11, 2021. discarded nickel-hydrogen batteries were expected to orbit the Earth for between two and four years (halved the difference, almost to three) before “burning up harmlessly in the atmosphere,” as NASA predicted at the time. Not exactly.
The debris that pierced the roof was described as a support for NASA’s flight support equipment used to mount the batteries on the cargo pallet. Made of Inconel alloy, the object weighs 1.6 pounds, is 4 inches tall, and 1.6 inches in diameter.
Hello. Looks like one of those pieces missed Ft Myers and landed at my house in Naples.
He tore the roof and went up to 2 floors. He is almost my son.
Can you help NASA contact me? I left messages and emails unanswered. pic.twitter.com/Yi29f3EwyV— Alejandro Otero (@Alejandro0tero) March 15, 2024
Otero he said She was on vacation when her son told her a facility had a hole in the roof, according to CBS affiliate WINK-TV of Fort Meyers. “I was shaking,” she said. “I was in complete disbelief. How likely is it that something will hit my house with that much force? I’m very grateful that no one was hurt.”
NASA says it will investigate the ejection and reentry of equipment debris to determine why the object crashed into Otero’s home instead of disintegrating in flames. “NASA experts use engineering models to predict how objects are heated and broken up during re-entry into the atmosphere,” the space agency reported. “These models require detailed input parameters and are regularly updated when debris is found to have survived atmospheric re-entry.”
Most space debris travels extremely fast, reaching speeds of up to 18,000 mph. according to to NASA. He explains, “Due to the speed and extent of debris in LEO, current and future space services, exploration and operations pose a safety risk to people and property in space and on Earth.
