By all accounts, this is the first time a piece of space junk has fallen out of orbit and damaged someone's home, at least in the United States. This means Otero and his attorney, Mica Nguyen Worthy, are entering uncharted legal waters as they prepare to file a claim with NASA for damages. //

NASA has confirmed that the object that fell into a Florida home last month was part of a battery pack released from the International Space Station.

This extraordinary incident opens a new frontier in space law. NASA, the homeowner, and attorneys are navigating little-used legal codes and intergovernmental agreements to determine who should pay for the damages. //

But a series of delays meant the final cargo pallet of old batteries missed its ride back to Earth, so NASA jettisoned the batteries from the space station in 2021 to head for an unguided reentry. Ars published details of the circumstances that led to this in a previous story.

This isn't the way NASA prefers to get rid of space debris, but managers decided they couldn't keep the pallet at the space station, where it took up a storage location needed for other purposes. NASA expected the roughly 5,800 (2.6-metric ton) battery pallet to fully burn up during reentry.

But Otero's experience shows that was not the case, and it's possible other fragments may have fallen in the Gulf of Mexico or in unpopulated areas of southwest Florida. //

One of the most well-known reentry debris incidents occurred in 2003 when a piece of the doomed space shuttle Columbia smashed through the roof of a dentist's office in Texas. Fortunately for those who worked there, the Columbia accident happened on a Saturday when the office was closed. The Columbia accident differs from Otero's experience because the shuttle was flying back to Earth for a controlled reentry.

A person in Oklahoma was hit by a lightweight piece of material in 1997 that experts linked to the reentry of the upper stage from a Delta II rocket. It was a glancing blow, and the air helped slow down the piece of debris, so she escaped injury. There was also an incident in 1969 when a fragment from a Soviet spacecraft reportedly hit a small Japanese ship near the coast of Siberia, injuring five people.

When a large Chinese Long March 5B rocket fell out of orbit in 2020, wreckage damaged a village in the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire. The Long March 5B is a frequent offender of debris because its massive core stage makes it all the way into orbit, an unusual design feature for a rocket. This booster then comes back into the atmosphere unguided. Four Long March 5Bs have been launched to date, with more flights planned in the coming years. //

worley Seniorius Lurkius
15y
45
Also, a homeowner can hire a lawyer and the lawyer make a public statement in days. A government bureaucracy dealing with a situation that is literally the first time ever -- and has to avoid criticism for letting grifters from getting government money they aren't entitled to -- is going to take a while to sort it out. //

peterford Ars Praefectus
14y
3,631
Subscriptor++
I've previously told my family that if I should die in this way they're to tell the media "it's exactly the way he wanted to go".

It's not quite true, the exact way would involve many decadences, but it's a near enough the top of the list that the lie won't matter. //

Therblig Ars Centurion
8y
218
Subscriptor++
The tinfoil hat crowd needs to add titanium umbrellas. //

Pueo Ars Scholae Palatinae
10y
986

TechfanMD said:
I wonder what Otero's uncovered expenses entail (beyond what his insurance paid). I'm a bit surprised he has a lawyer. While I get the reasons to hire a lawyer, they aren't cheap and I would only be hiring one if I thought that the outcome would make paying for the lawyer worthwhile.

I wouldn't be surprised if his lawyer is charging a lower fee for the opportunity to become "the space lawyer." Becoming "the guy" for a section of law that has relatively few cases but deep pocketed parties is a good way to establish a comfortable practice.