Nasa is being sued by Alejandro Otero and his family of Naples, Florida for $80,000 as compensation for damages caused by a space debris which fell on their house on March 8th. Otero was away during the time of the incident and was informed about it by his son.
A metal cylinder weighing 1.6lb and measuring at 4in by 1.6 in went through the Otero’s home causing significant damage. In response to his relief that no one got hurt in this incident, he said, “I was shaking. I was completely in disbelief. What are the chances of something landing on my house with such force to cause so much damage,” and “I’m super grateful that nobody got hurt.”
According to Nasa, the object was a metal support used to mount old batteries on a cargo pallet for disposal, which had been discarded from the space station in 2021. However, though it was expected to burn up upon entering Earth’s atmosphere, part of it did not burn up but rather landed in Otero’s compound.
The family has sought assistance from Cranfill Sumner law firm as they require compensation for non-insured property, business interruption losses incurred during this period , emotional distress suffered due to this event and agency assistance expenses among others . The attorney Mica Nguyen Worthy stressed out that ‘my clients expect full value’ as she also stated “they just appreciate that none came out alive physically after this whole thing happened but if not so then it would have been catastrophic; how could we avoid?” referring to near miss situations like this one are very critical because “They owe anything from stress levels being affected during these experiences” Understood? No physical injuries occurred but Mica Nguyen Worthy who represents them remarked that such incidents are ‘near-miss’.’“No one died or suffered injury but if it had come down a few feet either way there could have been serious injury or death.”
Worthy also emphasized that this case seeks to establish an earlier decision relating to claims of space debris in the private and public sectors too. The Otero family has given Nasa six months to respond back after which they will proceed with the case.
