NASA assigned SpaceX the mission to develop a spacecraft that will deorbit and destroy the International Space Station (ISS) in the atmosphere at the end of its operational life in 2030.
SpaceX will be in charge of the development of the ship, while NASA will manage its operation throughout the mission. It is expected that this ship, without a crew, be destroyed along with the space station during atmospheric re-entry, thus guaranteeing the safety of populated areas, NASA reported.
The Space Station, which has been successively expanded, It weighs 420 tons and has a length of 73 meters and a width of 109 meters. It orbits the Earth at an altitude of more than 400 kilometers.
Since 1998, five space agencies have operated the ISS: CSA (Canadian Space Agency), ESA (European Space Agency), JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and Roscosmos (Russian State Space Corporation). Each agency is responsible for managing and controlling the hardware it provides.
The station was designed to be interdependent and depends on contributions from all participating agencies. The United States, Japan, Canada and ESA countries have committed to operations until 2030, while Russia has secured its participation until at least 2028. The safe deorbiting of the ISS will be a shared responsibility of these five agencies.
The contract awarded to SpaceX has a potential value of $843 million. The deorbit vehicle launch service will be awarded in a future acquisition.
After 24 years of continuous operations, The ISS served as a scientific platform for more than 3,300 microgravity experiments. These studies span disciplines such as Earth and space sciences, biology, human physiology, physical sciences, and technological demonstrations that would not be possible on Earth.
NASA has released a 3D animation of Gateway, the lunar space station that will enable scientific and exploration missions in deep space starting in 2028. (NASA/BRADLEY REYNOLDS, ALBERTO BERTOLIN/NASA/BRADLEY REYNOLDS, ALBERTO BERTOLIN)
*The creation of this content was assisted by artificial intelligence. The information was provided and reviewed by a journalist to ensure accuracy. The content was not generated automatically.
