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Updated March 18th, 2021 at 17:51 IST

ISS releases 2.6 ton of used batteries into Earth's orbit, says 'no threat to satellites'

American space agency NASA has revealed that the International Space Station (ISS) recently threw a large chunk of debris into outer space to lighten weight.

Reported by: Vishal Tiwari
ISS
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American space agency NASA has revealed that the International Space Station (ISS) recently threw a large chunk of debris into outer space to help the spacecraft release some extra weight. According to the ISS daily activity report, the space station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm on March 11 dropped used batteries weighing some 2.6 tonnes into the Earth’s space. According to NASA, the massive chunk is safely moving away from the station and will orbit Earth for the next few years before burning up in the atmosphere.

NASA scientists believe that the chunk of garbage will ultimately be pulled by the Earth’s gravity and will get destroyed before entering the atmosphere. NASA said the process could take two to four years. The pallet that was released last Thursday contained external pallet nickel-hydrogen batteries. According to Gizmodo, some people are concerned if the large chunk of debris doesn’t burn up entirely in the atmosphere and pieces fall down on Earth. While others are worried about the pallet colliding with satellites. 

'No threat to satellites'

As per Gizmodo, a NASA official said there is no apparent threat from the pallet to other satellites in the Earth's orbit, adding that the US Space Command will keep monitoring the junk like every other object in space. The official further added that the space junk is the heaviest object ever thrown from the International Space Station in outer space. The official told Gizmodo that throwing away the batteries was not the original plan, adding that it was hampered by the failed launch of a Soyuz rocket back in 2018, which affected spacewalking.

"Mission controllers in Houston commanded the Canadarm2 robotic arm to release an external pallet loaded with old nickel-hydrogen batteries into Earth orbit on Thursday morning. It is safely moving away from the station and will orbit Earth for between two to four years before burning up harmlessly in the atmosphere," NASA said in a statement

The nickel-hydrogen batteries were used at the International Space Station to store solar energy from the sun. But in 2011, NASA decided to switch from nickel-hydrogen batteries to lithium-ion batteries, which are widely used in new technologies. Earlier last month, ISS astronauts Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover, in a historic spacewalk mission, concluded the degradation of the nickel-hydrogen batteries to lithium-ion batteries at the space station, which had begun in 2016. 

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Published March 18th, 2021 at 17:51 IST

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