NASA announced this Wednesday that it has selected aerospace manufacturer SpaceX to build a ship that will transport the International Space Station (ISS) back to Earth’s atmosphere and to its final resting place in the Pacific Ocean after its retirement in 2030.
The company, owned by magnate Elon Musk, thus won a contract with a potential value of $843 million to develop and deliver the aircraft, named “US Deorbit Vehicle.”
In a statement, Ken Bowersox, an official at the US space agency, said:
The selection of a US Deorbit Vehicle for the International Space Station will help NASA and its international partners ensure a safe and responsible transition to low Earth orbit at the end of Station operations.
NASA plans to take ownership of the spacecraft after SpaceX builds it, and control operations throughout the mission.
Weighing 430,000 kilograms, the ISS is by far the largest single structure ever built in space.
Based on previous observations of how other stations such as Mir and Skylab disintegrated during atmospheric reentry, NASA engineers expect the orbital outpost to break up in three stages.
Much of the material will vaporize, but large chunks are expected to survive. For this reason, NASA is targeting an area of the Pacific Ocean called Point Nemo, one of the most remote areas in the world and known as the “graveyard” of satellites and spacecraft.
The first segment of the ISS was launched in 1998 and has been continuously inhabited by an international crew since 2001.
The United States, Japan, Canada and participating countries of the European Space Agency (ESA) have committed to operating the microgravity laboratory until 2030, although Russia, the fifth partner, has only committed until 2028.
Several companies are working on commercial successors to the ISS, including Axiom Space and billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.
