Concerns about space junk are starting to become more heard, and even more so now that more than once, a huge chunk of space debris has landed on Earth. NASA has addressed the issue again after another debris was found in the mountains of North Carolina.
Confirmed: Debris Came from the SpaceX Crew Dragon
There are actually several pieces of space junk that landed in the areas of North Carolina. Smaller debris was found in residential areas, particularly around the yards throughout the region. Luckily, no one was harmed by the fallen debris.
The largest piece, however, was found along a walking trail on a mountaintop resort on May 22nd. Its approximate size was that of a car hood, meaning that it would've caused extensive damage if it had landed on infrastructure.
As mentioned in Space, a map of the plotted reentry of the SpaceX Crew-7 mission's service module suggested that it might be where the space junk came from, but it wasn't until June 20th that NASA confirmed that it was indeed from the SpaceX craft.
North Carolina is not the only location that found SpaceX Crew debris in the area. "Most recently, the trunks that supported SpaceX's 30th commercial services resupply and Crew-7 missions re-entered over Saudi Arabia and North Carolina, respectively," NASA stated.
The space agency predicted that the Crew Dragon part would burn up as it entered Earth's atmosphere, but it appears to not be the case, even for the smaller pieces. NASA said that they would "continue exploring additional solutions" as they learn from the discovered debris.
This incident is a better scenario than others where space junk managed to reach the Earth. The largest debris ended up in an open space and the smaller ones were in people's yards. The one in Florida, however, ended up crashing into a home.
Space Debris Crashes Into Florida Home
The one that landed in a home in Florida was not from any of SpaceX's equipment. Instead, it was a 5,800-pound cargo pallet of old nickel hydride batteries that was thrown from the ISS, which was also expected to burn up in the atmosphere.
What's worse was that someone was home during the incident. The son of the homeowner was fortunately unharmed by it, but it left extensive damage to the home as it tore a hole through the roof just a few rooms away from the 19-year-old Alejandro Otero.
The family is already suing NASA for damages. The affected family's attorney Mica Nguyen Worthy said that the homeowners are "seeking adequate compensation to account for the stress and impact that this event had on their lives," as mentioned in NPR.
The space agency has responded to the situation, saying that "NASA remains committed to responsibly operating in low Earth orbit, and mitigating as much risk as possible to protect people on Earth when space hardware must be released."
This raises awareness about the current situation we have with low-orbit man-made objects, particularly how it has been contributing to space pollution and how dangerous it is becoming as more objects are sent to space.
