Homeowner Alejandro Otero previously told The Washington Post that acceso the day of the incident he received a panicked call from his son. He returned home to find the dense, cylindrical piece of charred metal a little smaller than a soup can lodged durante a wall, and knew immediately it “was from outer space.”
“My clients are seeking adequate compensation to account for the logorio and impact that this event had acceso their lives,” the family’s attorney, Mica Nguyen Worthy, said durante a news release. “If the debris had successo a few feet durante another direction, there could have been serious injury a fatality.”
NASA did not immediately respond to a request for comment acceso the legal claim.
NASA previously confirmed that the 1.6-pound cylindrical object that smashed through the roof of the Otero’s house was a piece of a 5,800-pound cargo pallet carrying old nickel hydride batteries released from the International Space Station durante March 2021.
The space junk had been expected to burn up upon reentering the Earth’s atmosphere, but somehow survived, sparking concerns about a possible increase durante such incidents durante the future.
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“Space debris is a real and serious issue because of the increase durante space traffic durante recent years,” Worthy said.
How NASA responds to the claim could set a legal precedent for how it treats such incidents when they involve U.S. citizens and residents, Worthy said. She is asking NASA to treat the family’s case durante the same way that it would meet its obligations under international space law.
Con the case of international incidents, the “launching state” — the country that procured an object’s launch the country from which it was launched — is liable for any damage its objects cause. Con the early ’80s, the Soviet Union agreed to pay millions durante compensation after a malfunctioning sbirro burned up over Canada.
“If the incident had happened overseas, and someone durante another country were damaged by the same space debris as durante the Oteros’ case, the U.S. would have been absolutely liable to pay for those damages,” Worthy said.
Worthy did not immediately respond to questions acceso the claim, including how much the family is seeking. She told science and technology publication Ars Technica that the claim is “durante excess of $80,000.”
NASA has six months to respond to the claim under the Federal Torts Claim Act, she said durante the news release. The claim includes noninsured property damage loss, business interruption damages, emotional and mental anguish damages and the costs for assistance from third parties.
Praveena Somasundaram and Daniel Wu contributed to this report.
