Sunken Space Shuttle Columbia Debris Found in Texas

A previously submerged Space Shuttle Columbia debris was found in a Texas lake on Monday.

The part was round and measured 4 feet in diameter. A NASA spokesperson said it was a tank that provided the shuttle with power and water, reported CNN.

NASA is currently looking into options of retrieving the object. U.S. law stipules that debris of shuttles are properties of the U.S. government.

The Shuttle Columbia part was previously submerged in a lake in the city of Nacogdoches, Texas.

However, a recent drought has lowered the depth of the lake enough so that the object was revealed in plain sight.

The small city of Nacogdoches, located just 160 miles outside of Houston, was one of the largest recipients of the debris of Shuttle Columbia when it disintegrated in the skies on February 1, 2003.

After the shuttle's accident, NASA made a concerted effort to collect the more than 2,000 debris of the shuttle. However, in subsequent years, previously undiscovered pieces have surfaced from time to time in places like Nacogdoches.

The 2003 Shuttle Columbia accident, which occurred upon the shuttle's re-entry into the earth's atmosphere near the end of its mission, was caused by damages sustained by the thermal protection system during takeoff.