- NASA and SpaceX They have revealed more details about their plans to deorbit the ISS in the early 2030s.
- SpaceX aims to use one of its existing Dragon spacecraft to push the ISS towards its graveyard.
- But it won’t be possible to use just any Dragon spacecraft: SpaceX will first need to supercharge it.
of International Space Station It has been a haven for hundreds of astronauts for the past 23 years, but its days are numbered.
In June, NASA Elon Musk’s SpaceX to $843 million To support the decommissioning of the ISS.
On Wednesday, NASA and SpaceX released new details about a plan that involves a super-large, super-powerful spacecraft. Dragon Spaceship They could potentially deorbit the ISS and send it plummeting in a fiery descent to a remote ocean graveyard, possibly as soon as 2031.
SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft is currently Shuttle NASA Astronaut It is used to transport astronauts and cargo to and from the ISS, but they are very light compared to the ISS’s weight of about 925,000 pounds.
That’s why SpaceX is considering equipping one of its Dragons with a supercharger for the mission.
How SpaceX plans to dispose of the ISS
SpaceX plans to outfit its existing Cargo Dragons with new high-power trunks and supercharge them with 46 Draco engines, 30 more than the standard Dragons.
The final “de-orbiter” will be roughly twice as long as a standard Dragon spacecraft, with six times the propellant and four times the power.
SpaceX posted an illustration to show what the upgraded Dragon will look like.
Sarah Walker, SpaceX’s Dragon mission manager, said the most complex part of the mission will be the final burn that sets the station on course for its final descent.
“This burn has to be powerful enough to launch the entire space station, while at the same time resisting torques and forces caused by the increasing atmospheric drag on the space station and ultimately ensuring that it lands at its intended location,” Walker said at a press conference on Wednesday.
of The ISS’s final destination The launch site will be somewhere remote, like the South Pacific, but NASA hasn’t yet decided on the exact location: When a spacecraft the size of a football field is coming down at breakneck speed, the agency doesn’t want to take any risk of it crashing into anything other than the open ocean.
A new chapter in space exploration
Walker said it was an honor to have the opportunity to contribute to the conclusion of this important chapter in space exploration.
“I think it’s been a great full-circle experience for me and for SpaceX,” Walker said at a press conference on Wednesday.
In 2012, Dragon will be the first commercial spacecraft to dock with the ISS, and if all goes according to plan, it will be the last spacecraft to dock with the ISS.
“I can’t emphasize enough how honored it is for us to be a part of this step,” Walker said.
Dana Weigel, NASA’s ISS program manager, said the space agency considered using three Russian Progress spacecraft to do the job, but even that wasn’t enough for the scale of the space station.
NASA and the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, plan to continue using the ISS until 2030, at which point the agencies will go their separate ways and transition to a new space station, with NASA hoping to be one of many customers for a private space station in the future.
