A Florida resident had an unusual experience - "something" from space broke through the roof of his house and fell inside. It is currently suspected that it could be debris from the International Space Station, so NASA is now investigating the matter, UNN reports with reference to Geo and Ars Technica.
Details
Alejandro Otero, a resident of Naples, Florida, USA, reported an object weighing just under 1 kg that hit his home on March 8, while his son was home. Despite its relatively small size, the piece that fell from the sky went through the roof and both floors of the house.
At first he thought it was a meteorite.
What are the chances that the object fell on my house with such force and caused so much damage?
Otero alerted the local CBS affiliate in an attempt to identify the object.
It should be noted that on March 8, at 14:34 local time, the US Space Command detected the re-entry of a piece of space debris from the ISS. At that time, the object was over the Gulf of Mexico and headed for southwestern Florida.
The found object has been handed over to NASA, and Kennedy Space Center engineers are expected to analyze the object "as soon as possible," which is expected to confirm its origin. This was reported by NASA spokesman Josh Finch to Ars Technica.
NASA now claims that the pallet, along with nine spent batteries from the grid, weighed more than 2.6 tons. This is about twice as much as a standard refrigerator.
Such objects often fall to the ground on controlled trajectories, Ars Technica writes, usually damaged satellites or spent rocket stages that remain in orbit after completing their missions.
Recall
NASA's new Earth observation satellite PACE was successfully launched into orbit to study the state of the ocean, air quality, and the effects of climate change.