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
> leave the ISS in space
The ISS needs to be periodically boosted up a bit by a docked spacecraft or it would deorbit by itself. It’s essentially scraping the topmost layer of the atmosphere. It would imply scheduling missions to it continuously. The ISS is also just super out of date. It’s like sticking a new penthouse on top of a run down commieblock every few years.
No, we can’t put it in moon orbit, it’s like <1% of the distance there right now and the operation would cost more than the ISS. I know one of you wanted to ask that, go play Kerbal Space Program.
Latest Answers