A nearly two-pound piece of trash from the International Space Station may have hit a house in Florida. Alejandro Otero said it "tore through the roof and both floors of his two-story house in Naples, Florida," reports Ars Technica. "Otero wasn't home at the time, but his son was there." From the report: A Nest home security camera captured the sound of the crash at 2:34 pm local time (19:34 UTC) on March 8. That's an important piece of information because it is a close match for the time -- 2:29 pm EST (19:29 UTC) -- that US Space Command recorded the reentry of a piece of space debris from the space station. At that time, the object was on a path over the Gulf of Mexico, heading toward southwest Florida. This space junk consisted of depleted batteries from the ISS, attached to a cargo pallet that was originally supposed to come back to Earth in a controlled manner. But a series of delays meant this cargo pallet missed its ride back to Earth, so NASA jettisoned the batteries from the space station in 2021 to head for an unguided reentry. Otero's likely encounter with space debris was first reported by WINK News, the CBS affiliate for southwest Florida. Since then, NASA has recovered the debris from the homeowner, according to Josh Finch, an agency spokesperson. Engineers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center will analyze the object "as soon as possible to determine its origin," Finch told Ars. "More information will be available once the analysis is complete." [...] In a post on X, Otero said he is waiting for communication from "the responsible agencies" to resolve the cost of damages to his home. If the object is owned by NASA, Otero or his insurance company could make a claim against the federal government under the Federal Tort Claims Act, according to Michelle Hanlon, executive director of the Center for Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi. "It gets more interesting if this material is discovered to be not originally from the United States," she told Ars. "If it is a human-made space object which was launched into space by another country, which caused damage on Earth, that country would be absolutely liable to the homeowner for the damage caused." This could be an issue in this case. The batteries were owned by NASA, but they were attached to a pallet structure launched by Japan's space agency.

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JJC released a new Arca Swiss quick-release plate with a built-in AirTag for Canon, Sony, Nikon, Olympus, Fuji, Panasonic, Sigma, and Leica cameras (there are several similar solutions available).

The Apple Airtags 4 pack is currently on sale:

Additional information:

• Quick Release Plate for Airtag: The JJC quick release plate is designed with a sleek hidden compartment to effectively conceal an Apple AirTag to easily track a camera's location. (NOTE: AirTag is not included.)
• Arca-Type Design: The Arca-Type Design Plate allows to be quickly connected to a tripod and other accessories for shooting. The base has two built-in 1/4”-20 threaded holes, which can be attached to a tripod head. In addition, it features a strap loop to be compatible with a separately wrist strap.
• Reliable Quality: The tripod quick release mount is made of aluminum, sturdy and durable. The compartment cover is made of PC to avoid interfering with the tracking range of the AirTag. It has rubber pads to prevent twisting and one 1/4"-20 camera mounting screw.
• Camera Compatibility: The base T slot provides a convenient way to mount on a camera and no need to remove the plate when you replace the battery or memory card. It’s compatible with Canon R100 / R50 / R10 / R8 / R7 / R6 / R5 / RP / 6D Mark II / 5D Mark II / Sony A7CR / A7C II / A7R V / A7R IV / A7 III / A6700 / A6400 / ZV-E10 / ZV-EV1 / Nikon Zf / Zfc / Z50 / Z30 / Z7 / Z6 / and more.
• What You Get: Quick Release Plate x 1, Flathead Tool x 1, 1/4”-20 Screw x 1, Spare Hexagonal Screw x 2, Allen Wrench x 1

More AirTag-compatible products:

New PolarPro Defender camera body caps with a hidden AirTag/memory card compartment for R/Z/E/EF mount

Smallrig now also offers camera accessories with a hidden Apple Airtag cavity

Ulanzi announced two new camera backpacks: BP09 (22L) and BP10 (35L)

Via FujiAddict

The post JJC released an Arca Swiss quick-release plate with a built-in AirTag appeared first on Photo Rumors.

Space.com describes it as "a nearly 3-ton leftover tossed overboard from the International Space Station" — which crashed back to earth today. One satellite tracker claims to have filmed it passing over the Netherlands... "A couple minutes later reentry and it would have reached Fort Meyers" in Florida, posted astronomer Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. But instead it re-entered the earth's atmosphere "over the Gulf of Mexico between Cancun and Cuba," Friday afternoon. "This was within the previous prediction window but a little to the northeast of the 'most likely' part of the path." From Space.com: The multi-ton Exposed Pallet 9 (EP9) was jettisoned from the space station back in March 2021. At the time, it was reported to be the most massive object ever tossed overboard from the International Space Station. Disposing of used or unnecessary equipment in such a way is common practice aboard the space station, as the objects typically burn up harmlessly in Earth's atmosphere. Ahead of EP9's reentry, the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief, National Warning Center 1 in Bonn, Germany issued this information... "The object is battery packs from the International Space Station. Luminous phenomena or the perception of a sonic boom are possible...." EP9 is loaded with old Nickel-Hydrogen batteries, NASA explained at the time it was jettisoned, also explaining that EP9 has the approximate mass of a large SUV and predicting it would re-enter Earth's atmosphere in two-to-four years. "A large space object reenters the atmosphere in a natural way approximately once per week," the European Space Agency points out, "with the majority of the associated fragments burning up before reaching the ground. "Most spacecraft, launch vehicles and operational hardware are designed to limit the risks associated with a reentry."

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Russian space officials have acknowledged a continuing air leak from the Russian segment of the International Space Station, but said it poses no danger to its crew. From a report: The Roscosmos state corporation said that specialists were monitoring the leak and the crew "regularly conducts work to locate and fix possible spots of the leak." It said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies: "There is no threat to the crew or the station itself." Joel Montalbano, Nasa's station project manager, had noted on Wednesday that the leak in the Russian segment has increased but emphasised that it remained small and posed no threat to the crew's safety or vehicle operations. As the space outpost is ageing, the crew has to spend more time to repair and maintain it, Roscosmos said. Russian space officials first reported a leak in the Zvezda module in August 2020 and later that year Russian crew members located what they believed was its source and tried to fix it. In November 2021, another potentially leaky spot was found in a different part of the Russian section of the station. Roscosmos and Nasa have said the leak posed no danger to the crew and did not affect operations on the station. There have been other glitches. In October, coolant leaked from an external backup radiator for Russia's new science lab, Nauka, although its main thermal control system was working normally and space officials said the crew and the station were not in danger.

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