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
It’s getting old. The first modules have been on orbit for almost 25 years already, and most of the station isn’t much younger than that. There’s no way to do a comprehensive renovation/update, and at some point the critical life support and safety systems will be too old to be considered reliable. Right now that’s looking like some time in the 2040s.
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