Team Blitz India
An American family from Florida is suing NASA, claiming $80,000 for damages, after debris from the International Space Station (ISS) crashed through the ceiling of their home.
Floor damaged
Initially unidentified, the object hurtled down from space in March and damaged the property owned by Alejandro Otero. Weighing approximately 700g (1.6lbs), it ripped through the ceiling and damaged the floor while Otero’s son was living in their home in Naples, Florida.
NASA has later confirmed that the object was from a metal support to a pallet packed with over two tons of batteries. It was released from the ISS in 2021 after installing new lithium-ion batteries as part of an upgrade. The object was expected to completely burn off from friction caused on entering earth’s atmosphere. However, a part of the metal remained intact, crashing into the Oterios’ house The family is claiming $80,000 from NASA for the damages caused, including non-insured Property Damage loss, Business Interruption damages, Emotional/ Mental anguish damages, and the costs for assistance from third parties required in the process, reports quoted the family’s law firm Cranfill Sumner as stating.
Space junk
There have been such incidents of space junk affecting people and such reports have increased in recent years with the phenomenal rise in space traffic. Experts have been warning that with the density of space debris in low Earth orbit increasing, the result may lead to a rise in catastrophic collisions that could cause damage both in air and on the planet’s surface.
NASA said the debris fell to earth after ground controllers used a robotic arm on the space station to release a cargo pallet containing “aging batteries” in March 2021
