NASA announced on Wednesday that SpaceX will develop a spacecraft to guide the International Space Station (ISS) to its controlled destruction later this decade. The agency awarded an $843 million contract to SpaceX to build the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle, designed to guide the ISS into the Earth’s atmosphere after its retirement in 2030.
The SpaceX-built vehicle will be responsible for ensuring the ISS reenters safely, minimizing the risk to populated areas. This vehicle will effectively destroy the football-field-sized research laboratory by pushing it into reentry from orbit.
NASA emphasized the importance of preparing for the safe and responsible deorbit of the ISS. The agency did not specify whether the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle would be based on one of SpaceX’s existing spacecraft, such as the Dragon capsules. Neither SpaceX nor NASA immediately commented on the design specifics.
The ISS, which has been crewed since 2000, has hosted more than 3,300 experiments in microgravity, spanning medical sciences to technology demonstrations. However, the aging station faces increasing issues, such as microscopic leaks that NASA and its lead partner Roscosmos have been unable to resolve. As a result, NASA published a study on Wednesday analyzing the reasons for opting for a controlled reentry to destroy the ISS. The agency considered various alternatives, including disassembling the station in orbit or raising it to a higher orbit with a large spacecraft like SpaceX’s Starship.
NASA noted that the ISS is a unique artifact with immense historical value, but determined that preserving or reusing parts of the station was technically and economically infeasible. The possibility of extending the ISS’s operational lifetime beyond 2030 remains under consideration and requires agreement with international partner agencies representing Russia, Europe, Canada, and Japan.
To replace the ISS, NASA is investing in private space stations through the Commercial LEO Destinations (CLD) program, which supports U.S. companies in developing commercial space habitats. The ISS cost about $150 billion to develop and build and currently costs NASA around $4 billion annually to operate. The agency views privately built space stations as a more cost-effective replacement for the ISS.
As NASA prepares for the end of the ISS, the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle marks a critical step in ensuring the station’s safe deorbit and reentry, paving the way for a new era of private space stations in low Earth orbit.
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