Space travel
“All clear for Germany”: part of the ISS has flown over the country
An external pallet with used nickel-hydrogen batteries is released by a robotic arm on the ISS. photo
© NASA/dpa
A discarded battery pack from the ISS space station has been flying around the earth for three years. Now it should burn up in the atmosphere. Some debris could reach the earth’s surface.
Official hazard information
The Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief (BBK) had previously announced in an official danger information that was sent via several warning apps that the debris from the battery pack would cross the airspace over Germany between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. “Lights or the perception of a sonic boom are possible. According to current information, the probability of the debris hitting Germany is still considered to be very low.”
Entry into the Earth’s atmosphere will lead to such strong friction that most of it will generally dissolve into heat and light. A small trail of fire is likely. “It’s something special, but nothing dangerous,” said the military head of the Bundeswehr’s space situation center, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Richter, to the German Press Agency.
Crash into the sea?
If debris reaches the earth’s surface, it would probably fall into the sea, said Richter. “It’s not for nothing that Earth is called the blue planet,” he emphasized.
The object is a pallet containing nine disused batteries from the International Space Station (ISS). The platform with battery packs is about the size of a car and weighs around 2.6 tons. It was detached from the ISS in March 2021 with the aim of later burning up in the atmosphere. According to the US space agency NASA, an average of one known piece has fallen to Earth per day over the past 50 years. So far, no serious injuries or significant property damage have been reported as a result.
The fact that the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief had distributed its assessment – there was a very low probability of debris in Germany – on Thursday via several warning apps via official danger information caused some excitement. “If the risk increases, you will receive new information,” it said. “We are concerned with transparency and sharing the information we have,” a spokeswoman for the authority explained the procedure when asked.