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
Space is an extremely hostile environment for materials. Micrometeorite impacts, extreme temperature cycling, erosion from residual atmosphere, UV radiation, the effects of vacuum on certain materials. All of these things lead to cumulative and incremental damage to the materials which make up our spacecraft and space stations. Over time that can lead to serious flaws developing
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