The International Space Station (ISS) will be operational until 2030. There are still many experiments to be carried out on this legendary orbital station with more than 25 years behind it, in which many countries such as Spain have participated. However, NASA is already preparing its final farewell. The American agency has entrusted the task to SpaceXElon Musk’s space company.
SpaceX will have to develop a vehicle that serves as an executioner for the ISS. This ship will serve as a “space tug” safely pushing the ISS out of its orbit and dropping it onto Earth. The station will burn up as it passes through the Earth’s atmosphere and its remains will sink into the Pacific Ocean.
This practice is common in space exploration, the most common way to destroy space debris, such as satellites, ships or materials that are no longer operational. However, NASA has received a lawsuit this week for a piece of space debris from the ISS that hit a house in Florida.
In any case, this Wednesday, June 26, the US agency issued a statement announcing a contract with SpaceX to develop and build the “American Deorbitation Vehicle” as it has been called. The contract is worth $843 million. This cost does not include the launch, but rather its development. The agency requested a budget of almost one billion dollars in 2023 for this mission.
Goodbye to the ISS
The remains of the ISS will fall on the most uninhabited area of the South Pacific (SPOUA), the area around Point Nemo, which has become the benchmark for space debris. TOhere many of the ships and equipment that fall from orbit end terrestrial when its descent is controlled.
It is the furthest point from any coast; even astronauts on the International Space Station, 360 kilometers from the sea surface, pass closer to that point than any other human living on the planet. Ducie Island is the closest, 2,688 km away.
International Space Station (ISS).
Ensuring that the ISS falls in a controlled manner will be the objective of this deorbiter developed by SpaceX. Space tugs have been used in recent decades to propel ships into space. and relocate them from one orbit to another. Its size can vary greatly depending on the load for which it is designed.
There are some like the ESA ATV ship that burns on reentry with cargo, in this case it would be the ISS. The power or dimensions of the new tugboat commissioned from SpaceX are not yet known.
The future seasons
The established date is 2030, although it could be very close considering that Steve Stich, NASA commercial crew at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, indicated at the beginning of the year that the ISS will continue to operate until the private stations are on the ground and ready to receive crews. That is, the substitutes can take over. Russia has promised to maintain operations until 2028.
Chinese Tiangong Space Station.
CSME
Omicrono
There are several alternatives on the way, such as Axiom Space or Orbital Reef from the company Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ space company. China, for its part, has already built its own Tiangong space station. It is not the only country that intends to go on its own; the achievement of the ISS as an international collaboration project will be left behind.
