Object that slammed into Florida home was space junk for ISS, NASA confirms

[koolba]

> The cylindrical piece of space junk is made of a metallic alloy called Inconel, they added. It weighs 1.6 pounds (0.7 kg) and measures 4 inches (10 centimeters) high by 1.6 inches (4 cm) wide.

I’m no rocket scientist, but I’m pretty sure that would kill you if you got hit. Though we’ll have to run a couple more tests to be sure.

Home owner says it tore through two floors: https://twitter.com/Alejandro0tero/status/176872903149342722...

[JKCalhoun]

"One of the items I ordered was Inconel-X, I received a 3-inch diameter cylindrical billet of the material and took it to the machine shop to have a 3-inch piece cut off to make a bearing. The shop foreman fired up a band saw and started to cut the billet. He only managed to make a small groove in the billet before the cutting action stopped. The Inconel-X had destroyed the saw teeth in just a few seconds. The foreman then tried a large power hacksaw. Those saw teeth also disappeared. I then foolishly suggested he try cutting a chunk off with a cutting torch. He fired up his cutting torch and within a couple minutes we had a billet of metal that looked like taffy."

At the Edge of Space: the X-15 Flight Program

[chipdart]

Saving you guys a quick googling.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inconel

Fascinating stuff.

[bhhaskin]

You would have to have some pretty bad luck to be hit by space junk like that. Not saying it's a good thing or anything, just that the odds are pretty astronomical.

[mensetmanusman]

The earth surface area that is human is ~0.000000012% if you're wondering about the likelihood of being hit.

[fx1994]

two floors huh, and then I looked at pictures...plywood home, heh in Europe it would stay on attic, no chance to penetrate 15cm of concrete and steel.

[robertlagrant]

I was hoping it was junk from a SpaceX satellite so I could moan about how private companies are careless. I'll keep quiet though, since it's NASA.

[netbioserror]

Uhhhhhhhhhhh I hope your tongue is in your cheek here.

[js2]

Previous discussion a month ago when the reentry was announced:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39636991

Also some perhaps important context:

> The uncontrolled disposal of the pallet, however, was not part of the original plan. It was made necessary by a disrupted spacewalking schedule following the failed launch of a Soyuz rocket in 2018, which forced NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin to make an emergency landing in the Kazakh steppe. This event led to a backlog in the disposal of such equipment. Normally, old batteries would be placed inside an HTV (H-II Transfer Vehicle) and jettisoned from the ISS to burn up on re-entry.

> However, in late 2018, an HTV departed without this battery pallet due to the rescheduled spacewalks. As the battery replacement mission continued, and with no more HTVs of the old design expected to arrive (they are being replaced by the HTV-X cargo spacecraft), the decision was made to jettison the pallet independently.

https://gizmodo.com/massive-iss-cargo-pallet-reentry-earth-m...

[ornornor]

I wonder if anyone is liable for the damages in this case?

If I threw something up in the air and it landed on someone’s car, I’m pretty sure I’d have to pay for the repair.

I suspect that a plane crashing into a building also makes the airline liable for the damage.

Is it the same with the ISS given that it’s a joint project by so many space agencies and that it’s in space, i.e. outside of any territory?

[ben_w]

If I understand right, whichever state launched it, due to the Outer Space Treaty: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Space_Treaty

For example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_954

[r0m4n0]

I’m also curious which part of your auto or home insurance policy may call out space junk as covered or not. Maybe similar to a plane crashing into it.

[dotnet00]

The previous article from when the incident had just caught NASA's attention mentioned that the homeowner intended to go after the government for costs, but explained that it could be complicated if the part turns out to be owned by JAXA, since then either the owner has to go after JAXA or NASA has to work something out with them.

[userbinator]

The cylindrical piece of space junk is made of a metallic alloy called Inconel, they added. It weighs 1.6 pounds (0.7 kg) and measures 4 inches (10 centimeters) high by 1.6 inches (4 cm) wide.

That's about $3-4 worth according to this:

https://www.scrapmetalbuyers.com/inconel

[ornornor]

“Things that have been to space” tend to sell for a sizeable premium. Maybe this would too?

[ozim]

I think based on rarity of the event it might be 1k if I could buy it off with documentation.

Probably more from other people that are way more loaded than myself.

[gtirloni]

*from ISS

I don't think we're paying to send junk to the ISS yet.

[cpncrunch]

Someone needs to fix the title. Not sure why you were downvoted. Current title is nonsensical.

[briandw]

Inconel is tough stuff, melting at around 1400°C. However looks like re-entry temps can range from 2,900°C to 6,650°C. I guess the question is if it's hot enough for long enough to melt a large lump. Apparently not in this case.

[userbinator]

As evidenced in the photo, it probably did partially melt and deform; but getting hit with a slug of molten metal is unlikely to be any better of a result. What's more important here is the boiling point.

[iJohnDoe]

I wonder if NASA should have known this?

[shultays]

Can't they aim a bit better while jettisoning stuff or is re-entry that chaotic? It looks like they are relying on stuff burning off as they go through atmosphere but I don't see how that can happen for a roundish chunk of metal. But I am no nasa engineer so who knows

The earth surface is 70% water, surely you can aim for an ocean

[itishappy]

Reentry is just that chaotic.

Atmospheric drag is the main determining factor, and the atmosphere at high levels is thin, but not particularly flat, and difficult to measure. Add in the fact that orbital objects move at ridiculous speeds, and the errors quickly add up.

> The batteries, nine in total, were released on 11 January 2021 and will undergo a natural reentry, which is now predicted for around 18:56 CET on 8 March +/- 0.4 days.

Half a day of uncertainty! This was a day before reentry!

https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Space_Debris/Reentry_of_Int...

The batteries from this incident are typically returned to Earth in a controlled manner via a cargo spacecraft, but a failed launch required an alternative plan.

> The uncontrolled disposal of the pallet, however, was not part of the original plan. It was made necessary by a disrupted spacewalking schedule following the failed launch of a Soyuz rocket in 2018, which forced NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin to make an emergency landing in the Kazakh steppe. This event led to a backlog in the disposal of such equipment. Normally, old batteries would be placed inside an HTV and jettisoned from the ISS to burn up on re-entry.

https://gizmodo.com/massive-iss-cargo-pallet-reentry-earth-m...

[taneliv]

From the article:

> "NASA specialists use engineering models to estimate how objects heat up and break apart during atmospheric reentry," they added. "These models require detailed input parameters and are regularly updated when debris is found to have survived atmospheric reentry to the ground."

So, yes, they do rely on stuff burning off as it goes, but with some understanding whether that should actually happen.

[plg94]

Yes, for big parts where they know it will come down to the surface they try to aim for water, like they do with all the rocket boosters etc. However that's still risky, so given the choice between (fast descent and aim for ocean) and (slow descent to burn up in atmosphere) they almost always aim for the latter. Plus you can only "aim" something like a rocket booster or a satellite that can still generate a little thrust of its own. This case was more like throwing your heavy backpack from the top of a skyscraper – 3 years ago(!!). That's impossible to control. Plus it has been an emergency solution anyway, see https://www.space.com/space-station-jettisons-huge-space-jun...

[hollerith]

"The pallet and the batteries were expected to burn up completely in Earth's atmosphere"

[jszymborski]

I've never before considered we might inadvertently be "Rods from God"'ing ourselves with the massive amounts of space junk we've tossed up there.

[MPSimmons]

Responsible satellite fleet operators always plan for demiseability (that is, when a satellite re-enters, _all_ of it should burn up).

[dade_]

Guess it wasn't a toilet seat. Life imitates art.

Dead Like Me, love that show: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0348913/

[IG_Semmelweiss]

I'm very curious how a FL man deduces that the object was ISS debris, vs random explosive, plane part, university pet project, etc and all other million things that could potentially caused the damage

[kube-system]

I'm going to guess a couple of factors, just judging by the pictures on twitter:

* it's small but went through a lot of stuff, so it must have been going pretty damn fast

* it is metal but looks scorched on the outside. It looks like other parts you'd see at a museum that have gone through through reentry.

* it's too uniform of a shape to be a meteorite

[LVB]

A deorbit of 3T of ISS cargo is significant, and there was a decent amount of press in fairly mainstream news sites leading up to the re-entry. It doesn't seem that unlikely that he, or someone he knows, had heard about it and connected the dots.

[rnewme]

He lives on Florida.

[webwielder2]

And the homeowner just happens to be a NASA aficionado?

[latency-guy2]

Why not? This place isn't very far from the Kennedy Space Center.

[crobertsbmw]

I thought the same thing. I’m sure he’s the primary investigator of this case, but I still wonder how he came to suspect the ISS for a solid soda can ripping through two stories of his house.

[flerchin]

I suppose he files an insurance claim, and the insurance company can go after NASA.

[trickleup]

I wonder if that will one day help sell the house to some trekkie sci-fi enthusiast.

[vasco]

There's no fi in this, they can just enjoy science.

[wly_cdgr]

That's cool and all, but I'm more interested in hearing whether they've compensated the guy whose house they destroyed

[wly_cdgr]

I wouldn't be surprised if they haven't, especially with the ISS being an international station. Good luck getting one national agency to accept enough of the responsibility! And then the red tape even if they clear that hurdle...

[yazan94]

Sooo... was this damage covered by insurance?

[gagabity]

Time to get paid!

[bryanrasmussen]

a space station in trouble started shedding parts as it orbited over Seahaven just a few moments ago!

[doctorhandshake]

Typo in title: space junk ‘from’ ISS

[fatjokes]

I knew the junk wasn't Chinese because this was only reported in space.com and not across all the mainstream media.