A Latino family in Florida has sued the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) seeking $80,000 in damages over a small piece of space debris that fell from space and penetrated the roof of their Naples home, a law firm said.
“On May 22, 2024, (lawyer) Mika Nguyen Worthy filed a lawsuit with NASA to recover damages for her clients as a result of a space debris accident involving owner Alejandro Otero and his family,” the statement on the website read. Friday.
The accident occurred on March 8, when an object weighing just over a pound struck Otero’s home and left a hole in the roof. NASA later confirmed that it was part of a used battery charging pad that was launched from the International Space Station as waste in 2021.
The US space agency said in April that instead of completely disintegrating before falling to Earth, part of it remained intact when it returned to the atmosphere.
Why is the Otero family suing NASA?
The problem of space debris has grown as space traffic has increased, and NASA’s response could set a precedent for how future claims are handled, law firm Cranville Sumner said in a statement.
In May, Otero told Univision News The object entered his two-story home and caused severe damage to his home, which his insurance company covered. However, the family is seeking other types of compensation from NASA.
“My clients are seeking appropriate compensation that takes into account the stress and impact this incident has had on their lives,” said attorney Mika Nguyen Worthy.
“They are grateful that no one was physically injured, but a near-death situation like this could have been catastrophic. There could have been serious injuries or a fatal accident could have occurred,” the lawsuit said.
“I was shaking. I couldn’t believe it. What are the odds that something could fall on my house that hard and cause that much damage? I’m so grateful that no one was hurt.”
According to the lawsuit, NASA has six months to respond to its claim. The agency has not responded at this time.
What alien object passed through the house in Naples?
In April, NASA explained that the object that fell from the sky and hit the roof of the Otero family’s home turned out to be a piece of debris ejected from the International Space Station.
NASA, which later collected the fallen object at Otero’s home for analysis, confirmed in a new blog post that the guesses were correct.
“Based on the analysis, the agency determined that the debris was part of NASA’s flight support equipment, which is used to place the batteries on the charging platform,” he said. He explained, “The body is made of Inconel metal alloy, weighs 0.7 kilograms, is 10 centimeters high and 4 centimeters in diameter.”
NASA also pledged to investigate how the debris withstood complete destruction in the atmosphere, and said it would update its engineering models in the wake of the accident.
Who should pay for the UFO accident?
According to the scientific journal ars technica, It is not easy to determine responsibility for the damage to Otero’s home because the batteries were owned by NASA, but the platform containing them was transported into space by the Japanese space agency JAXA.
In addition, the European Space Agency (ESA) monitored the platform during its descent and calculated that “although some pieces may reach the Earth, the risk of casualties, and the possibility of a person being injured, is very low.”
Faced with this dilemma, the lawyer representing the Oteros family asked NASA to take into account that people in the United States should not sue because there is a legal standard of negligence in which the US government is liable when a dumpster causes damage.
“If the incident had occurred overseas and a person from another country had been harmed by the same space debris as in the Otero case, the United States would have been fully liable to pay those damages under the International Space Object Damage Liability Convention,” also known as the lawsuit says. “In the Space Liability Agreement, we ask NASA not to apply a different standard to American citizens or residents, but rather to take care of the Oteros and compensate them.”
Space debris falls on a house in Florida: Who should pay for the damage? We analyze it
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