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 requires maintenance which is expensive, a lot of the technology onboard is dated and any mishaps out in orbit could be catastrophic for the inhabitants. That actually plays a big role. Nobody is going to die if Hubble disintegrates for example as nobody is on board.
Relations with Russia are also strained, so they’re not ideal partners currently for such a project. Even more so since there are new transport options other than the Russian Soyuz.
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