Space debris doesn’t burn up completely: will parts of the ISS land on Swiss soil on Friday?

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German media warn: space debris rain may fall on Friday, not only in Germany, but also in Switzerland. On March 21, 2021, a platform containing battery packs was dropped from the ISS.

NASA originally assumed the parts would burn up if they reentered Earth’s atmosphere, but it’s now clear: this probably won’t happen. Moreover, the flight path of the space debris is directly over the canton of Schaffhausen – so tomorrow the residents of Schaffhausen will be subject to what is written on their city gate with “Lappi tue d’Augen uf”?

The battery pack, which weighs about 2,600 kilograms and is four meters long and two meters wide, will fly above the northernmost canton of Switzerland tomorrow. The emphasis is on “fly over” – as the German Aerospace Center (DLR) tells Blick, Switzerland and Germany are not affected by the possible scrap rain: “An entry into the Earth’s atmosphere will not take place here.”

There may be “shooting stars” visible

Although the DLR continuously monitors the object, the chance that the parts that do not burn will touch the ground is small.

The people of Schaffhausen can breathe a sigh of relief: it won’t happen to them. “According to current calculations, the point of return is over North America,” the DLR said. In this country you only see light in the sky that comes from space debris: “You could see a light phenomenon, such as a shooting star,” the report continues. “That’s just a guess, though.”

As “Bild” reports, the German Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Response has nevertheless issued a warning. It also says the object is flying over the area above Germany, but that a “threat to Germany is currently considered statistically unlikely.” The global injury risk for fatal injuries is currently 0.013 percent. So let’s hope it stays with the “shooting star”.

Source: Blick