NASA is investigating the possible fall of a piece of space debris from the International Space Station to a house in Florida, reports ArsTechnica.

On March 8, at 14:34 local time in Florida, an object weighing about 900 grams fell from the sky and pierced the roof and two floors of the building. The sound of the fall was recorded by a surveillance camera.

A few minutes earlier, at 14:29, the U.S. Space Command detected the return of a piece of space debris from the International Space Station. At the time, the object was moving over the Gulf of Mexico, heading for southwest Florida.

This space debris is reported to be a discharged battery from the ISS. It was attached to a cargo pallet that was originally supposed to return to Earth in a controlled manner.

Due to a series of delays, this could not be done, so in 2021, NASA ejected the batteries from the space station for an uncontrolled re-entry.

Now, engineers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center are analyzing the object to determine its origin. They promise to share the details as soon as the analysis is completed.

Otero said that he is now waiting for communication from the responsible agencies to compensate for the damage caused by this space object.

If the analysis shows that the object belongs to NASA, Otero or his insurance company could file a lawsuit against the federal government under the Federal Tort Claims Act.

If it turns out that the object does not belong to NASA and is not originally from the United States, the country that launched the object into space will be responsible for the damage to Otero’s home.

NASA investigates possible fall of debris from the International Space Station on a house in Florida

According to NASA’s analysis, the entire pallet of batteries should have re-entered the atmosphere, but did not reach the Earth. However, the analysis of other space experts disagreed with the agency’s assertion.

Representatives of the Aerospace Corporation said that the general rule is that 20% to 40% of the mass of a large object reaches the Earth.

On the eve of the re-entry, the European Space Agency also acknowledged that there was a possibility that certain pieces of the battery pallet could survive re-entry and land on Earth.