Washington – NASA and SpaceX are studying how to modify the process of re-entering the Dragon spacecraft into the Earth’s atmosphere with the aim of reducing the amount of debris from the back of the spacecraft that reaches Earth.
On several occasions, debris from Crew Dragon spacecraft trunk sections, which were jettisoned from the capsule before the capsule burned up outside orbit, has been found on Earth. These include debris from the Crew-1 Crew Dragon trunk, which was found in Australia in 2022; the Crew-3 Crew Dragon trunk, which fell in Saskatchewan in February; and the Crew-7 trunk, parts of which were found in May in North Carolina.
In August 2022, shortly after Crew-1 debris was found in Australia, a SpaceX official downplayed the incident as an isolated case. “All of this was within the projected space that was analyzed of what could happen,” Benji Reed, SpaceX’s senior director of human spaceflight programs, said at a NASA news conference. “However, just as we do for launches and any return, we are looking closely at the data, learning everything we can and always looking for ways we can make things better.”
After recently spotting the debris, NASA and SpaceX now acknowledge that improvements are needed. The agency recently stated that initial studies predicted that the torso would burn up completely upon reentry. “NASA and SpaceX will continue to explore additional solutions as we learn from the detected debris,” NASA stated.
“We did the analysis back before Demo-2 and clearly the models aren’t handling the trunk well,” Steve Stich, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager, said in an interview after Starliner’s briefing before that mission’s June 6 launch. He said it was likely due to the composite materials used in the trunk. “It’s almost like a thermal protection system.”
The solution NASA and SpaceX are exploring involves changing the procedure for deorbiting the capsule, he said. Currently, the stump is released before the capsule burns its orbit. That means the stump can remain in orbit for months before re-entering uncontrolled.
Instead, Stitch said, engineers are considering performing an orbital burn and then launching the trunk. This would provide more control over where the trunk re-enters, ensuring that any debris that survives re-entry will land in unpopulated areas.
“We’re in the process of doing that work now. I would love to have something ready next year if we can, but we have to do all the right analysis. We have to make sure it’s safe for the crew,” he said.
Challenges to this alternative approach include using extra propellant to perform an ex-orbital burn while the trunk is still attached, and then figuring out the best way to detach the trunk after the burn. Stitch said engineers are looking at two ways to do this that would lower the trunk farther from the capsule upon reentry, so that any debris would land in the ocean.
Concerns have been growing about the risk of falling debris not only from Dragon’s boxes, but also from a piece of the International Space Station’s battery carrier that made an uncontrolled reentry on March 8. A piece of this holder, weighing approximately three-quarters of a kilogram, survived re-entry and hit a home in Naples, Florida. The debris fell on the roof of the house without causing any injuries.
On June 21, law firm Cranfill Sumner LLP announced that it had filed a lawsuit with NASA seeking an estimated $80,000 in damages from the debris. The request, which some media outlets mistakenly reported as a lawsuit, is instead a claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which gives NASA six months to respond to the claim.
Micah Nguyen Worthy, the attorney who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the family whose home was damaged, noted that under a space treaty known as the Liability Convention, the United States would be “strictly liable” for damages if debris struck another country. But that same strict liability doesn’t apply here because the damage occurred in the United States.
“Here, the US government, through NASA, has an opportunity to set standards or ‘create precedent’ regarding what responsible, safe, and sustainable space operations should look like,” she said in the statement. “Paying the claim would send a strong signal to both other governments and private industries that such victims should receive compensation regardless of fault,” she concluded.
Others see opportunity in falling debris. Debris from the Crew-7 box fell on a luxury camping site called The Glamping Collective, showing photos of it. “We invite you to come experience this for yourself!” She stated on her websiteHe pointed out that the wreckage will be on display at the beginning of the hiking trail.
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