Three years ago, astronauts replaced a large battery module during an outdoor mission on the International Space Station (ISS). Using the robotic arm ‘Canadarm2’ he was pushed into space, where he has been tumbling ever since. The 2.6-ton module is expected to enter Earth’s atmosphere on Friday.
Three years ago, astronauts replaced a huge battery module during an outdoor mission on the ISS space station. It was pushed into space using the ‘Canadarm2’ robotic arm and has been tumbling through space ever since. The 2.6-ton module is expected to enter Earth’s atmosphere on Friday.
Initial analyzes by the Space Situation Center (WRLageZ), a civil-military division of the Bundeswehr Air Force and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), have shown that parts of the battery packs can survive return to Earth’s surface and reach the earth’s surface. upon request from the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection.
No ‘battery rain from space’
According to the Space Situation Center, a threat to Germany is quite unlikely – contrary to what has been reported by many media outlets. “Battery rain from space falls on Germany” was the grim headline in “Bild”. The WRLageZ will monitor further developments, a ministry press spokeswoman said when asked by krone.at.
Initial analyzes by the German Space Situation Center have shown that parts of the battery packs can survive return to the Earth’s surface. According to the Space Situation Center, a threat to Germany (and probably also to Austria, mind you) is very unlikely.
Most of the module will burn
As a spokeswoman for the US space agency NASA explained in 2021, the battery element platform, measuring 4 by 2 by 1.5 meters, is the heaviest object ever to have fallen from the ISS (photo below). The block is expected to break into hundreds of pieces upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere and the vast majority will burn up.
At the time, NASA described the fall as “harmless.” But some experts see it differently. Like astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, who works at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics doubted whether the object would burn up completely in the atmosphere. Because, according to his concerns at the time, the battery elements were extremely compact. “It’s concerning,” he said.
“It appears large and dense, so it’s unlikely to burn up completely,” astronomer and author Phil Plait, who runs the blog “Bad Astronomy,” wrote Thursday on X (formerly Twitter).
Source: Krone
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