Houston, Texas – SpaceX has been selected to carry out a crucial mission by NASA – crashing the International Space Station (ISS) into the Pacific Ocean as part of a program aimed at safely deorbiting the space station within the next decade.
Since its launch in 1998, the ISS has been in continuous operation, serving as a hub for scientific research and international collaboration in space. However, with its aging components, the space station is set to reach the end of its orbital lifespan around 2030. To prevent the ISS from posing a hazard to Earth upon re-entry, NASA has enlisted SpaceX to develop a spacecraft called the “US Deorbit Vehicle” to safely guide the ISS back into the Earth’s atmosphere with minimal risk to human populations.
The chosen destination for the ISS’s final descent is a region of the Pacific Ocean known as the “spacecraft cemetery.” This uninhabited area between New Zealand and South America is a resting place for nearly 300 space vehicles, including capsules, cargo craft, and rockets. Many of these vessels were once used to reach the ISS, making this final journey a homecoming of sorts for these spacefaring vehicles.
The task ahead for SpaceX is daunting, as the ISS weighs nearly a million pounds and is too massive to burn up completely during re-entry. The development and testing of the deorbiting vehicle are expected to take several years, with the phased disintegration of the ISS planned to occur in three stages – starting with the solar arrays and radiators, followed by the individual modules, and ending with the primary structure known as the truss.
In a statement, Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, emphasized the importance of selecting a US Deorbit Vehicle for the ISS to ensure a safe and responsible transition in low Earth orbit once the station’s operations come to an end. The ISS, a collaborative effort between the US, Europe, Japan, Canada, and Russia, costs around $3.1 billion per year to maintain and operate.
Looking towards the future, private space industry players like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Voyager, Lockheed Martin, and Nanoracks have unveiled plans for their own commercial space stations. These projects aim to provide alternatives to the ISS for future space exploration endeavors and potentially reduce the financial burden on government space agencies. SpaceX and Blue Origin are set to launch their stations in the latter part of the decade, while other companies like Voyager, Lockheed Martin, and Nanoracks are planning to follow suit in the coming years.
As the ISS prepares for its final voyage back to Earth, the focus shifts towards the next chapter in space exploration – one that involves increased collaboration between public and private entities to expand humanity’s presence in space.