米民家に落下した物体はＩＳＳの宇宙ごみ　ＮＡＳＡ

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】米航空宇宙局（ＮＡＳＡ）は１５日、今年３月に米フロリダ州の民家に落下した物体は国際宇宙ステーション（ＩＳＳ）から廃棄された宇宙ごみ（スペースデブリ）の一部だったと認めた。（写真は、米フロリダ州の民家に直撃したＩＳＳの宇宙ごみ。米航空宇宙局〈ＮＡＳＡ〉提供）
　フロリダ州ネープルズ在住のアレハンドロ・オテロさんは先月８日、物体が自宅の「屋根と２フロアを突き破り」、あやうく息子に直撃するところだったとＸ（旧ツイッター）に投稿。ＩＳＳから廃棄された貨物パレットの一部である可能性が浮上した。
　ＮＡＳＡは、落下した物体を分析した結果、その推測は正しかったと公式ブログで発表。「バッテリーを貨物パレットに取り付けるための部品の破片」で、「インコネル合金製で、高さ約１０センチ、直径約４センチ、重さは約７００グラム」だったとした。
　ＮＡＳＡは、廃棄ごみが大気圏で完全に燃え尽きなかった理由について検証し、試験用モデルを改良する方針を示している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/04/16-16:55）

An object that crashed from the sky into an American man's home was a hunk of debris ejected from the International Space Station, NASA confirmed Monday.
The strange tale came to light last month when Alejandro Otero of Naples, Florida posted on X that a metallic item tore through the roof and went (through) 2 floors of his house, almost striking his son, on March 8.
It occurred at a time and location that closely matched official predictions for the atmospheric burn-up of a cargo pallet fragment carrying old batteries that was jettisoned from the orbital outpost in 2021, making it a likely match, according to space watchers.
NASA, which subsequently collected the object from Otero for analysis, confirmed in a new blog post that the predictions were true.
Based on the examination, the agency determined the debris to be a stanchion from the NASA flight support equipment used to mount the batteries on the cargo pallet, it said.
The object is made of the metal alloy Inconel, weighs 1.6 pounds (0.7 kilograms), is 4 inches (10 centimeters) in height and 1.6 inches in diameter.
The US space agency also pledged to investigate how the debris survived being fully destroyed in the atmosphere, adding it would update its engineering models accordingly.
NASA remains committed to responsibly operating in low Earth orbit, and mitigating as much risk as possible to protect people on Earth when space hardware must be released, it said.
A report by specialist news outlet Ars Technica last month said that while the batteries were owned by NASA, they were attached to a pallet structure launched by Japan's space agency -- potentially complicating liability claims.
Past examples of manmade human space debris hitting Earth include part of a SpaceX Dragon capsule landing on an Australian sheep farm in 2022. Skylab, the United States' first space station, fell on Western Australia.
More recently, China has been criticized by NASA for allowing its giant Long March rockets to fall back to Earth after orbit.