By Tim Binnall
An odd record was set last week when the International Space Station jettisoned a nearly three-ton pallet which now stands as the most massive piece of space junk ever released from the orbiting facility. The giant bundle of garbage reportedly consisted of spent batteries that were part of an extensive project aimed at updating the power system of the ISS so that it uses more modern lithium-ion batteries rather than the outmoded nickel-hydrogen variety. Due to a disruption in how the disposal process usually unfolds, NASA was left with a pallet of the now-useless parts and opted to simply dump it into space last Thursday morning.
The 2.9-ton bunch of batteries will now orbit the Earth for the next two to four years until it eventually reaches the upper atmosphere where it will burn up as it descends to the surface of the planet. Although NASA indicated that this would unfold "harmlessly," some scientists have expressed concern about such a huge piece of debris being cast off towards the Earth. Pointing to the density of the tightly packed pallet, they argued that the space junk may not completely burn up when it goes through the atmosphere and, as such, could have an unwanted impact on the surface of the planet should some of it survive the journey.