Cambridge. The US space agency NASA has announced plans to officially shut down the International Space Station (ISS) in 2031. After dozens of launches since 1998, the station was moved to a higher orbit. In such a situation, bringing it down would be an achievement in itself. But, it also has dangers.
NASA’s plan for the dismantling process is to sink it in the middle of the Pacific Ocean at a location called ‘Point Nemo’, also known as the “Spacecraft Graveyard”. ‘Point Nemo’ will be the final stop of a complex and multi-stage mission to convert ISS operations into a new commercial space station and bring the rest of the structure safely to Earth. Originally designed for a life of 15 years, the ISS is meeting all the requirements. It has already been in operation for 21 years and NASA has extended the term for another decade, doubling its total planned time in orbit.
purpose of the ISS
The ISS, involving five different space agencies (USA, Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan), has taken a huge leap forward in science and cooperation among mankind. The modules of the ISS and its parts have been built sequentially by many different countries to work in space. The structure now spans the length of a football field and is the largest man-made object in space. It is also visible from Earth, when it completes its 16 daily orbits passing 400 kilometers above the Earth’s surface.
Research in the so-called microgravity environment of the ISS has led to breakthroughs in drug discovery, vaccine development and medical treatments over the past decade. The ISS also helps in monitoring Earth’s ecosystems and natural disasters in real time. It is also used to test future spacecraft technologies and conduct long-term studies to determine the possibility of future human exploration of the solar system.
Despite the success of research on the ISS, NASA has seen signs of slowing down of its infrastructure and components. In orbit around Earth, the ISS gets scorched by solar radiation on one side and freezes on the other. The increase of flying junk in space also creates an unplanned and catastrophic risk of destruction.
NASA has made a commitment to maintain the station by 2030. Its affiliates have yet to officially sign the agreement, meaning the final decision to drop out of the classroom will depend on engineering as well as politics.
If there is a fall or unplanned damage prior to the official shutdown process, the ISS falling uncontrollably out of direction can pose a serious threat. In fact, it will not be the first space station to fall from the sky. In 1979, NASA’s Skylab station was not fueled on time and it crashed. It got out of control Part of the station around Australia fell apart. No one was harmed but it showed the way for further reforms.
The design is an important principle for the engineering of ready-to-break satellites and other orbiting space infrastructure. Objects that fall freely from orbit must be shattered into small pieces to ensure that they do not pose a danger to people on the ground. The size of the ISS is huge. This is why we need special operations to exclude from orbit. Experts predict that the worst-case scenario could be a “9/11-like event” if it crashes uncontrollably in a metropolitan area. However, it is absolutely impossible.
In planned, controlled, de-orbiting operation for the ISS, newly created modules will first separate from the main structure and eventually remain in orbit for recombination as parts of future space stations. The ISS will then be gradually lowered by the onboard thrusters, reducing its orbit altitude gradually over the course of a few months.
A Russian space station was similarly brought down safely in the past. Although the ISS is about four times bigger, no operation has taken place on this scale. The ISS will go through a transitional phase to maintain important scientific research and lay the groundwork for new industries in space, before being completely decommissioned from orbit in 2031.
Jeff Bazos’s Blue Origin recently announced plans to replace the ISS with the company’s privately operated space station. Other major groups include Northrop Grumman and Axiom Space (partnered with SpaceX), which have contracts to begin manufacturing modules from the current ISS in early 2024. There are also plans for a Russian space station which is likely to include modules separated from the existing ISS. Meanwhile, China launched the first module of its Tiangong space station last year and plans to complete its expansion in the coming months.