(Washington) The object from the sky that pierced the house of a Florida resident did indeed arrive from the International Space Station (ISS), NASA confirmed Monday.
On March 8, a resident of a Florida town recovered a semi-cylindrical gray object that he said “pierced the roof and two floors” of his house, and transmitted it to the US space agency.
She confirmed on Monday the scenario which was then supposed: the object comes from a cargo of old batteries, waste released from the ISS in 2021 although planned to re-enter the atmosphere “without danger”.
The incriminated object, approximately 700 grams, is made of a metal alloy called Inconel.
NASA said it is investigating why the debris was not completely destroyed in the atmosphere, and whether it needs to change its practices.
Incidents of the same type have already taken place in the past.
In 2022, Australian authorities, for example, confirmed that charred space debris that fell into a sheep enclosure came from a SpaceX device.