A pallet of spent batteries from the International Space Station (ISS) will re-enter Earth's atmosphere sometime next day, and some parts of the 2.6-ton mass will likely hit the ground.
ISS Battery Pack falls to Earth – March 8, 2024
The pod contains a total of nine batteries and was released from the ISS on January 11, 2021. According to ESA's Space Debris Office, entry is predicted at 1756 UTC on March 8. However, the date and time currently has an uncertainty of 0.4 days, making it difficult to find the location of re-entry until closer to the time.
ISS battery pallet (image: JSC)
The ESA said: "Re-entry will occur between -51.6 degrees south and 51.6 degrees north." This is quite a large area, but it is indicative of the inherent challenges in predicting a "natural" re-entry.
