NASA Unveils Plan to Destroy the International Space Station

Lucas NolanFebruary 2, 2022

NASA has released a new statement outlining how it plans to operate the International Space Station until 2030. It will then be destroyed by plummeting the station out of orbit into a remote region of the Pacific Ocean. The agency plans to transition operations to commercial space stations in the future.

Futurism reports that NASA has finally settled on how it plans to retire the International Space Station (ISS). In a statement, NASA said it plans to continue to keep the station operational until the end of 2030. After 2030, the station will be sent plummeting towards an area in the Pacific Ocean known as Point Nemo.

(UPI)

This July 19, 2011 photo of the International Space Station was taken from the space shuttle Atlantis. On Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020, NASA said that the two Russians and one American on board were awakened late Monday to hurriedly seal hatches between compartments and search for the ongoing leak, which appeared to be getting worse. It was the third time in just over a month that the crew had to isolate themselves on the Russian side, in an attempt to find the growing leak. (NASA via AP)

NASA says that the destruction of the station is part of a “transition of operations to commercial services,” noting that the agency aims to support private-public efforts in space. In an ISS Transition Plan delivered to Congress, Nasa went into detail on its plans to de-orbit the ISS.

The first stage of the plan involves mission control powering thrusters to slowly lower the station’s altitude. Once the station is close to the Earth’s atmosphere at some point in January 2031, the station will perform its final maneuver ensuring its landing in the “South Pacific Oceanic Uninhabited Area (SPOUA).”

Point Nemo has been a popular area for nations to sink their space debris for some time with more than 263 pieces of debris dropped there since 1971. The plan states: “Not all visiting vehicles can be used to assist in the de-orbit. NASA and its partners have evaluated varying quantities of Russian Progress spacecraft and determined that three can accomplish the de-orbit.”

Robyn Gatens, director of the International Space Station at NASA, said in the statement: “The International Space Station is entering its third and most productive decade as a groundbreaking scientific platform in microgravity. We look forward to maximizing these returns from the space station through 2030 while planning for transition to commercial space destinations that will follow.”