NASA has revealed that the piece of space junk that landed on a US hiking trail belongs to a recently launched SpaceX capsule.
The debris, found near a mountain resort in North Carolina, was expected to burn up completely upon re-entering Earth’s atmosphere.
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The capsule delivered four astronauts to the International Space Station last summer and brought them back on March 12, 2024.
However, parts of the capsule that were expelled while bringing the astronauts home fell to Earth, going against NASA’s initial projections.
The largest piece of debris, discovered on May 22, was about the size of a standard car hood.
Several smaller pieces were also found in the backyards of local residents, according to local media reports.
The US space agency has confirmed that the pieces of debris are remnants of SpaceX Crew Dragon hardware that re-entered the atmosphere in May 2024.
NASA added that more debris from the Dragon capsule fell over Saudi Arabia.
“SpaceX has confirmed the re-entry of the Dragon spacecraft trunk hardware to NASA following its service missions to the International Space Station,” the agency said in a statement. declaration to western North Carolina journalist Justin Berger, who posted the response on X.
“Most recently, trunks supporting SpaceX’s 30th commercial service resupply and Crew-7 mission re-entered Saudi Arabia and North Carolina, respectively.”
The space agency said it is currently “unaware” of any damage to buildings or injuries caused by these incoming space debris items.
However, industry chiefs around the world have expressed great concern for human life due to the growing number of cosmic junk that is crashing into Earth.
No more closed calls
By Millie Turner, Senior Technology and Science Reporter
At the current rate, it is only a matter of time before we have our first casualty caused by man-made space objects.
No one has yet died from falling space debris, although there have been many cases of infrastructure damage and even injuries.
In 2002, six-year-old Wu Jie became the first person to be directly injured by falling space debris, after 20 pieces of metal from a rocket fell onto his village in China.
Fast forward to June 2024, and we have a Florida family suing NASA for $80,000 in damages after an object from the ISS hit their home.
The cylindrical object fell two stories into their home and nearly hit their son earlier this year.
The unstable irregularity of pre-SpaceX space launches meant that NASA could afford to count on the chance that the spent metal would land in the ocean or an uninhabited area — if it hadn’t already burned up.
But that won’t work for much longer.
In 2022, ‘alien-like’ trunk debris from SpaceX’s Crew-1 was discovered by a farmer in Australia, New South Wales.
The trunk refers to a non-pressurized section of the capsule that contains hardware for power and cooling.
NASA stated that there is another trunk currently in orbit from the Crew-8 visit to the ISS, which is expected to “return” later this summer.
Astronomer Jonathan McDowell, who tracks space launches and debris discoveries, he wrote on regularly to re-entry in large chunks.”
NASA has admitted that its assessments are not perfect and that the agency needs to improve its debris modeling.
“During its initial design, the Dragon spacecraft’s trunk was evaluated for reentry rupture and was predicted to burn up completely, the agency wrote.
“NASA and SpaceX will continue to explore additional solutions as we learn from the debris discovered.”
What is the ISS?
Here’s what you need to know about the International Space Station…
- The International Space Station, often shortened to ISS, is a large spacecraft that orbits Earth and houses astronauts who go there to complete scientific missions.
- Many countries worked together to build it and work together to use it
- It is made up of many parts, which astronauts had to send individually in rockets and assemble from 1998 to 2000
- Since the year 2000, people have lived on the ISS
- NASA uses the station to learn how to live and work in space
- It is approximately 250 miles above Earth and orbits around the planet like a satellite
- It is said that living inside the ISS is like living inside a big house with five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a gym, lots of science labs and a big bay window to see Earth.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
