Two former space agency leaders International Space Station In an open letter published earlier this month, they proposed preserving it for future generations. SpaceX is currently The station will be closed by 2030 In a controlled deorbit, technically speaking, Crash the International Space Station into the ocean. NASA will pay Elon Musk’s private space venture $843 million for the honor.
Former NASA Administrator Michael Griffin and former ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dourdan believe that the ISS should not be abandoned due to time and resource constraints. I focused on construction. The two said the station would cost $100 billion to build. Space News They outlined their alternatives.
As lifelong space professionals who have worked with ESA and NASA in various capacities to redesign, assemble, and operate the ISS, we fully share the goal of decommissioning the ISS after 10 years, but believe destroying the ISS would be a pointless loss for the future. Instead, we propose to put the ISS into a higher orbit to preserve its value and allow future generations to decide how to best utilize the 450 tons of hardware already in space. We believe the ISS provides the cheapest half-kiloton of space resources available to humanity.
More specifically, the idea is to use SpaceX’s US deorbiter to boost the ISS to a higher orbit. The station’s intended use has not been clearly stated, but it’s not up to this generation to decide. NASA is moving towards more ambitious goals for its next space station, the Gateway. The new structure would be in lunar orbit, Project Artemis, NASA’s ongoing manned lunar exploration project.
The ISS may only have six years left in its lifespan, It’s not going to be nothing. Two more astronauts Currently stranded at the station Because Boeing’s newest spacecraft is riddled with bugs, the Starliner test crew will stay on the ISS in addition to the regular roster of crew members until engineers on the ground can analyze the data, make test fixes, and feel confident the spacecraft can return safely to Earth.
