The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest artificial object orbiting the Earth. Larger than a football field, the station weighs more than 400 tonnes! Aging, the ISS must still be inhabited and operated until 2030. Then, it must be deorbited to prevent it from generating debris. For this, NASA chose SpaceXSpaceX.
Neither the American agency nor SpaceX have specified what vehicle will be used. Given the dimensions of the station, only the Starship seems appropriate. The contract for the operation is worth $843 million (787 million euros).
A unique challenge!
The most important thing is to control the descent of the station into theatmosphereatmosphere. During its descent, the ISS will travel through the air at 28,000 km/h! Friction will generate a strong heatheat who will burn it.
But such a large object will not burn up completely during descent. Some compact components will survive. On March 8, a piece of debris from the ISS fell onto the toittoit from a house in Florida. The owner filed a complaint against NASA, a historic first.
The risk is that a certain amount of wastewaste falls back to Earth. Atmospheric re-entry must then be under control, so that these remains fall into an uninhabited area. Usually the South Pacific Ocean is chosen.
Change of era of astronautics
It is quite a symbol. Founded by the billionaire Elon MuskElon MuskSpaceX still has the ambition to revolutionize manned space exploration, with the goal of reaching the planet Mars. For decades, manned exploration has been embodied by the ISS, a scientific station in orbit at the heart of a fantastic international cooperation between the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada.
SpaceX proposes to NASA to convert a Starship into an orbital station, but is it feasible?
It is therefore SpaceX which will put an end to all this, paving the way for replacement stations like Axiom or Starlab, piloted by commercial companies.
Here is NASA’s bold new plan to destroy the Space Station!
Article by Gaspard SalomonGaspard Salomonpublished on September 29, 2023.
By 2030, NASA plans to decommission the International Space Station after more than 30 years of service. The US space agency has issued a call for tenders to the private sector for the design of a spacecraft to safely deorbit the ISS as part of its planned retirement.
Put into orbit in the years 1998-2000, the International Space Station (ISS) enabled a permanent human presence in space, with its share of scientific experiments carried out in a climate-free environment. gravitygravity. But she has a durationduration limited life, and its various elements wear out over time, particularly due to the thermal cycle (alternating day/night). NASA therefore plans to shut it down in 2030, after 30 years of service.
Deorbiting the ISS: a delicate operation
Several options are available to NASA, the simplest being to simply abandon the station. It would then naturally brake, eventually entering the atmosphere and crashing into Earth. The problem is that with its 430 tonnes, the station may not completely disintegrate in the atmosphere, and debris could crash onto the surface, potentially onto inhabited areas. NASA must therefore plan a controlled deorbit of the ISS, in order to avoid any risk for populations. The American Space Agency then has two options: split the station into several parts to reduce its chances of resisting atmospheric entry, or brake the entire station to control its descent trajectory towards a chosen point. It is this last option, considered the safest, which is chosen by NASA: the debris having resisted atmospheric entry will be damaged above the Pacific Ocean, near Point Némo, far from any habitat.
A call for tenders intended for the private sector
To meet its objectives, NASA has launched a call for tenders aimed at the private sector for the constructionconstruction of a massive vessel intended to control the deorbiting of the ISS, the USVD (United States Deorbit Vehicle))This ship will have to meet many constraints, such as a high fuel capacity, the deceleration of the station will have to be done gradually, in order to avoid it breaking up.
Visit the Space Station as if you were there
Responses to this call for tenders are expected in November, and by then the manufacturers will have to imagine a vessel (whether new or based on pre-existing models) capable of slowing down and handling the various anomaliesanomalies which could occur during the descent of the ISS.
