NASA to destroy International Space Station at a cost of $1 billion

The massive spacecraft initially had a targetted lifespan of 15 years but has now been in service for 25 years.

NASA (National Aeronautics & Space Administration) is planning to retire the International Space Station by the next decade. However, reports suggest it could cost nearly $1 billion for them to do so.

As per the latest reports, the destruction of the International Space Station (ISS) is scheduled to be completed by 2031. However, all the options point towards bringing the ISS back to Earth via what NASA calls a "deliberate, destructive descent". The ISS though, is bigger than an American football field and is said to weigh 450 tonnes. The massive spacecraft initially had a targetted lifespan of 15 years but has now been in service for 25 years.

As per reports, ideally, NASA would wait for the ISS to lower itself via natural orbital decay and hover 250 miles above Earth. Once this occurs, a custom-built vehicle would attach to the ISS to begin a deorbit burn to the point that the space station reduces its distance from Earth to just 125 miles. The mission controllers would then tweak the ISS's circular orbit to an ellipse such that the shortest earthward point for the station would be just 90 miles. At this point, the mission controller would fire the station's rocket one final time, pushing the station further down and making it fall over the South Pacific Ocean.

Another option would be to bring down the ISS via "uncontrolled deorbit". However, considering its size, and the fact that its orbit's trajectory passes over 90% of the world's population - an uncontrolled plummet to Earth becomes an extremely risky proposition. The third is to push the ISS to a higher orbit, called "graveyard orbit", where it wouldn't pose a risk, but eventually upon natural decay will leave a huge amount of debris in its wake.

NASA, therefore, will have to get the ISS to crash and burn back to Earth and is planning to go ahead with or without Russia's help.

Source: Scientific American