Retirement time is fast approaching for the ISS. Having taken on board hundreds of astronauts from nineteen countries since 2000, the date of arrival of the first crew, the space laboratory should finally close its hatches at the end of the decade, in accordance with a set schedule by NASA and its partners – the Russian, European, Canadian and Japanese space agencies. Then, in January 2031, the machine will complete its odyssey at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, at Point Nemo, the furthest point on our planet from land.
Tug towing 400 tons station
In order to conduct this complex operation in complete safety, NASA is preparing to issue a tender for the acquisition of a space tug, which will thus complement the existing capabilities to deorbit partners of the International Space Station. In January 2031, following altitude-descent maneuvers, the machine will be tasked with towing its 400 tons and then dropping the station over the famous “Point Nemo”. When it falls, the space laboratory will partially break up in the atmosphere and “similar” calculations will be made so that the largest fragments that would not disintegrate in flight end up in the Pacific Ocean, far from any inhabited area.
In a report submitted to the US Congress in January 2022, months after the decision to extend the end of its operation until 2030, the agency indicated that Russians would be called in to carry out these operations. “NASA and its partners have evaluated various numbers of Russian Progress spacecraft and have determined that three of them can deorbit.”, we could read in this document the detailed main stages of the dismantling of the space station. So far, at least officially, the action plan drawn up by the US space agency and its partners remains the same.
NASA’s future space tug will complement existing space station partner deorbit capabilities, agency officials quoted by the site said. space.com. “We are also developing this capability for the US so that we have redundancy and can better help guide vehicles and return safely, especially as we add more modules to them.”– explained in charge of manned flights at NASA Kathy Lueders on Monday, March 13, during a press conference. “As you saw last year and last year, these layoffs were very important to us and our partners.”she added, referring to the recent leak of information about the Russian Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft and the Progress MS-21 cargo ship.
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Just over a year after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Space Station (ISS) has become the latest area of cooperation between Moscow and Washington. However, space leaves no room for uncertainty, and NASA also intends to protect itself from a possible last-minute exit. Last summer, the head of the Russian Space Agency, Yuri Borisov, said that Russia would leave the space laboratory “after 2024” and create its own orbital station, without setting a specific release date. If Russia has since pledged to fulfill part of its contract, these statements could also influence NASA’s decision, just like the Kremlin’s will to continue this war at any cost.
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Source: TF1