The cylindrical object broke into a house in the city of Naples on March 8. The US space agency said it is a metal holder used to mount old batteries on a cargo pallet for disposal.
The pallet was launched from the space station in 2021 and the cargo was expected to eventually burn up completely once it entered Earth's atmosphere. But one piece survived. The piece of metal weighs 0.7 kilos, is 10 centimeters high and 4 centimeters wide. The owner of the affected house, Alejandro Otero, said at the time that the object had torn the ceiling of the house and torn the floor. The object was subsequently taken to the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral for analysis. It is believed to be a piece of space junk from discarded equipment at the International Space Station (ISS) The US media reported it as a 'cargo pallet' from the ISS that was due to burn up in the atmosphere once it reached the Earth's surface in 2021.