SpaceX Should Save the ISS, Not Drop It Into the Ocean

Two former space agency leaders called for International Space Station to preserve it for future generations in an open letter published earlier this month. SpaceX is currently scheduled to launch Cancel the station by 2030 In a controlled deorbit, which is a technical way of saying it, it will just happen. International Space Station collision with the ocean. NASA is paying Elon Musk’s private space company $843 million to do the job.

Former NASA Administrator Michael Griffin and former ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain believe the International Space Station should not be scrapped due to time and resources. Pour into its construction. The couple stated that the station would cost $100 billion. Their open letter Space News They identified the alternative:

As long-time space professionals who have worked together in various capacities at ESA and NASA to redesign, assemble and operate the ISS, we fully agree on the goal of decommissioning the ISS at the end of the decade, but we believe that destroying it would be a waste of time for the future. Instead, we propose to preserve the value of the ISS by placing it in a higher orbit so that future generations can determine how best to make use of the 450 tonnes of hardware already in space. We believe that the ISS will provide the cheapest half-kiloton of space resources that humanity has ever had access to.

More specifically, the idea is to use SpaceX’s American lander to push the ISS into a higher orbit. There’s no clear indication of what the station could be used for, but that decision won’t be for this generation. NASA is moving forward with more ambitious goals for its next Gateway space station. The new structure would sit in lunar orbit and support Artemis program, NASA’s manned lunar exploration project.

The International Space Station may only have six years left in its life, but it It won’t be uneventful. Two additional astronauts are: Currently stuck at the station Along with the typical permanent crew, Boeing’s latest spacecraft is bug-ridden. The Starliner test crew will remain aboard the International Space Station until engineers on Earth have analyzed data, tested fixes and are confident the craft can return safely to Earth.