NASA announced on Wednesday that it had selected SpaceX to build a vehicle capable of pushing the International Space Station back into the Earth’s atmosphere, thus allowing it to be destroyed after its retirement in 2030.
The contract won by Elon Musk’s billionaire company has a total value of up to $843 million, according to a NASA press release.
The American space agency had already announced in the past its intention to plunge the International Space Station into the atmosphere terrestrial above an ocean after its end of life. Some pieces will disintegrate during the maneuver, others more resistant will end up in the sea.
But this operation requires the development of a powerful vehicle, capable of maneuver a space station weighing some 430,000 kg.
The SpaceX vehicle must allow “to deorbit the Space Station and avoid any risk for inhabited areas”NASA said.
Just like the ISS, this vehicle should break up upon re-entering the Earth’s atmospheresaid the space agency.
Once developed, it will belong to NASA, which will be responsible for operating it during its mission.
A Belgian-Luxembourger will go to the ISS before its destruction
Although its end of service is near, the ISS still has several missions ahead of it. Including one involving a Luxembourger: astronaut Raphaël Liégeois, of Belgian-Luxembourgish nationality, will join the space station in 2026.
The United States, Japan, Canada and Europeans are committed to continue ISS operations until 2030. Russia has for the moment committed until 2028. “Safely removing the International Space Station from orbit is the responsibility of all five space agencies”NASA soberly wrote on Wednesday.
Despite the war in Ukraine, the ISS remains one of the rare areas of cooperation between Washington and Moscow.
In April, during a hearing at the American Congress, NASA boss Bill Nelson nevertheless stressed the need to develop such a vehicle quickly in the United States to ensure the end of the ISS.
In six years, “Will we still have the same relationship to be able to bring it down with the Russians? We can’t count on that”he had said.
“So we need to start now to build this American out-of-orbit vehicle, which could bring the whole station down safely so that it doesn’t hit anyone or anything.”he added.
The flying laboratory is continuously inhabited for over 20 years.
After 2030, the United States is banking on private space stations in low Earth orbit, which could accommodate NASA astronauts as well as other clients. Several American companies are already working on these projects, including Axiom Space and Blue Origin.
