does insurance protect panels from space debris ?

[Moxi]

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/so ... f21a&ei=13

Lets hope it all burns up without any issues.

Moxi

[nowty]

Oh no, not a Venus Probe.

"A Soviet spacecraft hurtling towards Earth could hit the UK in just three days time, scientists have warned. The out-of-control Cosmos-482, a Venus lander stranded in Earth's orbit since 1972, had been forecast to make a re-entry between May 8 and May 13.

ESA's Space Debris Office now predict it will makes its reentry at around 8.12am UK time on Sunday. Scientists watching on do not know where its exact landing site will be, but they have drawn up a potential impact zone area between 52 north and 52 south latitude.

This takes in the south of England and parts of Wales, although the chances are extremely slim. The probe's robust construction, designed to survive Venus' harsh atmosphere, means some parts, especially the titanium descent capsule, may reach the surface intact."

[Moxi]

yes i saw that 1972, its been decaying its orbit for on hell of a long time hasn't it!

Hopefully it didnt have a isotope battery on board!

Moxi

[resybaby]

oooh a nice big lump of titanium crashing through a panel or two should easily generate enough of a return for a repair.

[MikeNovack]

Does your property insurance cover the rest of the roof from this risk? When you installed your solar system, did you get a rider on your policy to include it?

I would think the risk of damage from something man made falling from the sky (and an aircraft part more likely than space debris) FAR less than the risk from hail. Or do you never get hail stones golf ball size and larger?

[Moxi]

Takes me back to when spacelab was due to burn up in orbit and there was some discussion as to whether it was too big and some bits would get through and where they would land, IIRC in America you could buy spacelab to land here targets to put on folks lawns if you took agin them.

Thats a while back now !

Never seen golf ball size hail here ......yet.

Moxi

[resybaby]

Missing the facepalm immogy there me thinks, shall put tongue back in centre of mouth.

Biggest thing this way dropping out of the sky are seaguls and sometimes the shells they carry off from the beach.

The whole thing about space junk is quite an intersting topic mind, there has been such a huge increase in 'bits and bobs' orbitting the world this last decade or so, what with Musks Starlink etc, so only going to be a more prevelent risk.

[MikeNovack]

Never seen golf ball size hail here ......yet.

Possibly a climate difference (size of thunderstorms)

Just about every year a few places in the US would have a hail event with hailstones that large. Rarer events with hailstones baseball size probably at least one somewhere in the US every year.

I suspect for about half the land area in the US would be at least one golf ball size event within 1000 years.

[ivan]

About 25years ago we had hailstones as big as golf balls in Monmouth. It left dents in my car. And about 15-20years ago, there were a lot of PV smashed in the midlands I think due to large hailstones. Think most PV and solar thermal are certified to withstand 25mm hailstone.

[chris_n]

On the hailstone front my son's work van was written off last summer with bodywork damage and smashed windscreen after being caught in a storm here in Austria. A lot of private cars were written off too.
On the subject of space debris it appears to have burned up on return entry today.