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
Understand that the ISS is in low earth orbit. At its altitude, it is still subjected to atmosphere and is always being slowed down, albeit slowly. Being in the atmosphere reduces the radiation of space dramatically requiring far less shielding.
In order to preserve the ISS past its predicted shelf life would require upgrading the heavy shielding substantially and boost it to an altitude outside the atmosphere.
This would require nearly the weight of the ISS in fuel and shield mass.
At some point you have to accept that the ISS is going to be past its shelf life and start a new project. For humanity, that’s going to be the moon. The moon has water. Water can be separated into oxygen and hydrogen. That’s literally rocket fuel.
Being able to refuel rockets from the moon is far more cost effective and will unlock the rest of the solar system.
Latest Answers