NASA and SpaceX Study Ways to Mitigate Dragon Debris

WASHINGTON – NASA and SpaceX are studying how to modify the Dragon spacecraft’s reentry process to reduce 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 analysis before Demo-2 and it’s clear that the models don’t handle the box well,” Steve Stich, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager, said in an interview after briefing Starliner before that mission’s June 6 launch. He said this was likely due to the composite materials used in the box. “It’s almost like a thermal protection system.”

The solution NASA and SpaceX are said to be looking at involves changing the deorbit procedure. Currently, the trunk is released before the capsule burns out of orbit. That means the trunk could remain in orbit for months before making an uncontrolled reentry.

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 this work now. I would love to have something ready next year if we can, but we have to do all the right analyses. We have to make sure it’s safe for the crew,” he said.

Challenges of this alternative approach include using additional propellant to perform an extraorbital burn while the torso is still attached, and then figuring out the best way to separate the torso after the burn. Engineers are looking at two ways to do this that would lower the trunk level farther from the capsule upon return, so any debris would land in the ocean, Stich said.

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 mount, 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 against NASA seeking approximately $80,000 in damages from the debris. The lawsuit, which some media outlets have mistakenly reported as a lawsuit, is actually a claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which gives NASA six months to respond.

Mika Nguyen Worthy, an attorney who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the family whose home was damaged, noted that under the space treaty known as the Liability Convention, the United States would be “fully liable” for damages if debris hits another country. But the same strict liability does not apply here because the damage occurred in the United States.

“Here, the US government, through NASA, has an opportunity to set standards or ‘create a precedent’ regarding what responsible, safe and sustainable space operations should look like,” she said in the statement. She concluded by saying that paying compensation “would send a strong signal to other governments and private industries that such victims should receive compensation regardless of fault.”

Others see opportunity in the falling debris. The wreckage of the Crew-7 plane’s trunk landed on a luxury camping site called The Glamping Collective, which posted photos of it. “We invite you to experience it for yourself!” This was stated on its websitenoting that the wreckage will be displayed at the beginning of the hiking trail.

Related