Why is the ISS going to be deorbited?

Question

NASA plans to deorbit the ISS sometime around 2030. Building something the size of the ISS in orbit is a huge undertaking and NASA keeps talking about wanting to build new space stations or a moon base, so why not leave the ISS in space and reuse it rather than literally throw the whole thing away?

In: Planetary Science

Answer 1

It literally can’t be “left in orbit.” Its orbit is low enough to be slowed down by air molecules at a gradual rate. Most ISS missions bring up fuel so that they can use their rocket engines to accelerate and refine the whole space station’s orbit.