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

[Admin]

The small object that crashed through the roof of a Florida home last month was indeed part of a pallet jettisoned from the ISS three years ago, NASA has confirmed.

Object that slammed into Florida home was indeed space junk from ISS, NASA confirms : Read more

 

[Unclear Engineer]

DUH!
"Inconel is a nickel-chromium-based superalloy often utilized in extreme environments where components are subjected to high temperature, pressure or mechanical loads. Inconel alloys are oxidation- and corrosion-resistant. When heated, Inconel forms a thick, stable, passivating oxide layer protecting the surface from further attack. Inconel retains strength over a wide temperature range, attractive for high-temperature applications where aluminium and steel would succumb to creep as a result of thermally-induced crystal vacancies."

It is also not cheap. Maybe find a way to return and recycle this type of material?

 

[sciencecompliance]

DUH!

Yeah, when they said it was made out of Inconel I shook my head. You mean the Inconel that's famous for its heat resistance? Jesus Christ, NASA. Get your **** together.

I hope they pay for the damages to this guy's house, but, ultimately, this could have been a lot worse. There needs to be a better protocol for jettisoning objects from orbit, so nobody gets hurt.

 

[Unclear Engineer]

Jettisoning a whole package of heavy stuff held together by strong Inconel pipes seems pretty negligent. It would make more sense to ensure that the package would break up quickly once it reaches the atmosphere. I can understand that they don't want a lot of separate pieces orbiting for a year or two, but they could have used some plastic zip ties to hold it together, rather than jut using the pre-existing Inconel frame.

At some point, which probably should have been sooner than now, we need some proper protocols for jettisoning waste in orbit. With all sorts of other national and private space stations planned for the near future, this could become a hazard for both space vehicles and people on the ground.

it might be wise to force processes that will cost some money, such as providing de-orbiting engines and fuel for packages of space trash, so that their reentry points are clearly determined when released.

 

[sciencecompliance]

it might be wise to force processes that will cost some money, such as providing de-orbiting engines and fuel for packages of space trash, so that their reentry points are clearly determined when released.

Not that I'm not inclined to agree, but this is unfortunately more complicated than just strapping some solid rocket motors to the payload. You need a way to ensure that it can maintain a retrograde thrust vector for the duration of the deorbit burn, otherwise you could still have space debris, just in a different, possibly higher orbit. Maintaining a proper attitude during a burn is not a trivially simple task, especially if you have an irregularly shaped payload with a nonuniform density distribution.

 

[Unclear Engineer]

I agree that it is not as simple as putting a solid rocket on the trash and lighting it. It will need some sort of structure and a guidance system to make it work reliably. That is why it will cost some money - not just for the disposable garbage disposal systems, but for the process of launching that additional weight and volume into orbit to be used there.

So, any policy to do that is likely to get some resistance from the people who would need to actually do it.

 

[newtons_laws]

There was little doubt that given the time and location of the debris that crashed through the Florida resident's home it was (as NASA has now confirmed) part of the jettisoned battery pallet.

As a humorous aside, looking at the photo of the inconel stanchion that survived re-entry, why does there appear to be what looks like a frog on top of it? A good example of Pareidolia.