This 700 gram debris fell on the roof of a house in Florida on March 8, 2021.
A family in the US state of Florida has filed a case of $80,000 (about 66 lakh 85 thousand Indian rupees) against the space agency NASA. Actually, on March 8, 2021, a piece of debris weighing 700 grams fell on their house from space, which broke their roof.
After this incident, NASA said that this debris was part of a cargo pallet of used batteries that was released as waste from the International Space Station in 2021. The US space agency said that even after entering the atmosphere, it was not completely destroyed.
The law firm Cranfill is fighting the Sumner family’s case, The Guardian reports. The firm said its client Alejandro Otero’s home in Naples, Florida, had a hole in his roof from falling debris.
The child was at home when the piece of garbage fell
His client Otero’s son Daniel was at home when the piece of garbage fell on the house. Although he was not hurt in the incident, the situation could have been worse. We want NASA to compensate for this.
The firm’s lawyer, Micah Nguyen Worthy, said, “This incident had a huge impact on my client’s life. He is seeking fair compensation for the trouble he suffered as a result of this incident. He is grateful that no one was physically hurt in this incident, but such a ‘close’ situation could have been dangerous. Someone could have been seriously hurt or killed.”
Cranfill said that the garbage in space is constantly increasing, due to which accidents have also increased. How NASA responds in this case can set a precedent in the future. The firm said that NASA has six months to respond to its claim. According to the report, NASA has not given any immediate response on this issue.
Space debris poses a threat to satellites and space stations.
What is space debris?
The garbage in space is called ‘space debris’ or ‘orbital debris’. These are artificial materials that are no longer useful but are orbiting the Earth. This garbage is made up of things sent into space by humans. It includes pieces of rockets, pieces of satellites, and things left by astronauts.
As space activities of countries around the world have increased during the last 60 years, the amount of space debris has continued to increase. According to NASA’s website, currently more than 29,000 objects larger than 10 cm exist in Earth’s orbit.
According to NASA’s estimate, at least one piece of debris falls on Earth every day. This piece either falls somewhere on Earth or burns as soon as it enters the atmosphere. Most of the space debris falls into water, because 71% of the Earth is covered with water.
In 1979, NASA’s Space Center Skylab fell on the earth, but it also fell into the sea. This incident was discussed for a long time. Actually, the weight of this debris was 75 tons, if it had fallen on any part of the earth, it could have caused a huge disaster. Skylab was sent into space by America on May 14, 1973.
Skylab continued to function properly for about five years. But due to a solar storm in space, its panels got burnt and gradually its engine also stopped working. After this, it started moving from space towards the earth. In the beginning, it was not even known where it was going to fall on the earth.
In April 2018, the Chinese space station Tiangong was expected to collide with the Earth. A lot of concern was raised about it, but it fell into the sea.
