The International Space Station (ISS) has discarded its largest piece of space junk to-date – a 2.9-ton pallet of 48 nickel-hydrogen batteries.
A robotic arm attached to the craft released 265 miles above Earth’s surface, which is set to spend the next two to four years in low orbit ‘before burning up harmlessly in the atmosphere.’
NASA, however, does not have data about how many fragments might survive re-entry, NASA communications specialist Leah Cheshier told Spaceflight Now.
Source – Daily Mail
