After metallic space debris from NASA crashed into a Florida family's home in Naples earlier this year, resulting in a hole in the roof, the family has now moved to sue NASA.
The incident has sparked questions regarding who should be held liable if space debris leads to damage to Earth.
Florida Family Sues NASA For Metallic Space Debris Incident
The incident that happened last March was a rare case of man-made material in space arriving at the surface of the planet intact and landing over an area that is populated.
Attorney Mica Nguyen Worthy, who helped the family with the case, said that the issue of space debris is serious and real due to the recent rise in space traffic. The attorney explains that the family is asking for compensation for the impact and stress brought about by the incident.
The claim was filed last month and seeks damages. These include emotional and mental anguish, non-insured property damage and loss, and other kinds of damages.
According to Worthy, the homeowner's 19-year-old son was inside the house when the incident happened. Fortunately, he was a couple of rooms away from the crash and remained unharmed.
Though the family is grateful that nobody got hurt because of the space debris crash, a near-miss situation could have ended up devastating.
Worthy also explained that NASA would be held liable for its space debris damage if the debris fell in a different country. This would have fallen under the Space Liability Convention.
However, according to Mark Sundahl, a space law expert, the matter is less clear if NASA material hits US soil. This would make it a legal issue on a domestic scale.
NASA should respond to the claim within six months.
NASA's Space Debris
Following the incident, the space object was brought to Cape Canaveral's Kennedy Space Center to undergo further analysis.
In an April blog post, NASA revealed that a space object taken from the home was part of an operation in March 2021. This operation took place on the International Space Station.
Back then, the agency revealed some old nickel hydride batteries in a cargo pallet that weighed 5,800 pounds. It was expected to rotate the Earth for roughly two to four years before eventually burning up.
While the entire load was expected to burn up upon entering the Earth, it appeared that one of the pieces survived.
According to NASA, the material that landed in the Florida home could have been a metal alloy stanchion, weighing 1.6 pounds, from the flight support equipment of NASA.
The agency revealed last April that they stay true to working in a low-Earth orbit and engaging in risk mitigation in order to protect humans on Earth during the release of space hardware.
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