On Friday, March 8, a pallet of discarded batteries from the International Space Station (ISS) re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere over the Gulf of Mexico after an unpredictable orbit.
This pallet contains 9 batteries and weighs 2.9 tons.Originally Thrown by Canadaarm2 robotic arm in March 2021 Since then, it has been falling toward Earth in an uncontrolled re-entry. The chaotic fall trajectory finally came to an end last week when the cargo pallet reportedly re-entered somewhere over Cancun and Cuba around 3:29 p.m. ET. Jonathan McDowellan astrophysicist who has been tracking junk on the International Space Station.
However, it’s unclear whether the entire pallet burned up upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere or if some parts of it survived the intense heat.this European Space Agency (ESA) is also monitoring the re-entry of the pallet and estimates that some parts may reach the ground, but the likelihood of people being hit is very low. There have been no reports of injuries or damage since the object returned to Earth.
The pallet is the largest object ever ejected from the International Space Station. It was launched to the space station from a Japanese cargo ship in May 2020 to help astronauts replace old nickel-metal hydride batteries with new, more efficient lithium-ion batteries. These batteries store energy collected by the space station’s solar arrays.
This doesn’t mean it’s over for old batteries, they should be placed on a Japanese HTV cargo ship for proper disposal. However, the International Space Station’s backlog of handling such equipment forced NASA to use the station’s robotic arm to toss the batteries into cargo trays, causing their uncontrolled re-entry into the atmosphere.
Uncontrolled re-entry of large objects like battery trays is quite rare, and most objects that perish through the Earth’s atmosphere usually burn up without leaving any trace. According to reports, aerospace agencies generally accept that the probability threshold of the risk of casualties caused by a single uncontrolled re-entry is one in 10,000. ESA. As the aerospace industry continues to evolve, monitoring who is following the rules may become trickier, which could ultimately lead to new regulations.
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