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How NASA plans to destroy the International Space Station, and the dangers involved:
NASA has announced plans for the International Space Station (ISS) to be officially decommissioned in 2031. After dozens of launches since 1998 got the station up and into orbit, bringing it down will be a feat of its own—the risks are serious if things go wrong.
NASA's plans for the decommissioning operation will culminate in a fiery plunge into the middle of the Pacific Ocean—a location called Point Nemo, also known as the "spacecraft graveyard," the furthest point from all civilisation.
Finding Point Nemo will be the final stop in a complex and multi-staged mission to transition the operations of the ISS to new commercial space stations, and to bring the remaining structure safely down to Earth.
Originally commissioned for a 15-year lifespan, the ISS is outliving all expectations. It has already been in operation for 21 years, and NASA has given the go-ahead for one more decade, thereby doubling its total planned time in orbit.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 22 2022, @08:37AM (7 children)
Just privatise it!
By the time the new neoliberal owners are done cutting costs and syphoning assets, the whole station will plummet within 20 years max
The only risk is the space entrepreneurs coming back looking for a public bailout as the vessel tumbles towards reentry
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday February 22 2022, @11:42AM (4 children)
That was kind of the plan but I guess it's dead in favor of creating new replacements in low Earth orbit. With the exception of Axiom Space, which will connect modules to the ISS temporarily before using them to form a new station.
We could have the Lunar Gateway orbiting the Moon, unless that gets cancelled, and cheaper stations in LEO that take advantage of cheaper launch costs, decades of experience managing the ISS, inflatable modules, better solar panels, etc.
NASA reviews private space station proposals, expects to save over $1 billion annually after ISS retires [cnbc.com]
Supermold is on the list of reasons not to use ISS anymore.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Informative) by Taxi Dudinous on Tuesday February 22 2022, @02:26PM
First thing that I thought of when I read...
So Axiom is potentially going to introduce cultures to give the mold a head start on their station? NICE!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 22 2022, @04:49PM (2 children)
Hopefully the lunar gateway gets canceled. The ISS might not have had much use, but at least it didn't hurt anything. The lunar gateway only exists to make moon missions harder and worse.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 22 2022, @05:34PM (1 child)
The Lunar Gateway exists to give lunar landers a logistics hub, which is a good idea. SLS's shortcomings require it to be in a sub-optimal location, but taking it out of the critical path for the first mission is what put Dynetics' Alpaca lander overweight. The big question is if it can be moved to a better location after it's built.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 22 2022, @11:15PM
There is literally no benefit to having the lunar gateway except that it gives space contractors another giant expensive boondoggle to overcharge for.
It's such a terrible idea that it's hard to come up with analogies for. The closest I have is, imagine you want to fly from New York to Lisbon, except you have to go through customs in the Azores. It's like that, except much more so. Yeah, it's technically "on the way," but it actually really really isn't.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday February 22 2022, @05:07PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 22 2022, @05:27PM
The ISS has between five and ten years of life left due to old age. If privatizing it extended that by a decade I'd call it a win. (Hint: There is a reason nobody is offering to buy it)