The International Space Station ISS could be threatened with extinction in just a few years. There are different approaches to what should then happen to the station.
The International Space Station ISS * has been orbiting the earth for more than 20 years and has been permanently inhabited since 2000. Scientists from all over the world have been working and researching together and side by side on the space station since then – the project is the largest international collaboration in space. The construction of the space station began in 1998, and the space laboratory has grown steadily ever since.
NASA originally assumed a service life of around 30 years. But now the end of the ISS is getting closer and closer – earlier than expected. In April 2021, the Russian Vice Prime Minister Yuri Borissow announced on state television that Russia was planning to withdraw from the ISS project as early as 2025.
The current contract of the ISS partners runs until 2024. At the beginning of the year, Russia had announced an extension to 2030. But then suddenly there was talk of the early exit of the Russian cosmonauts. The background is the technical condition of the ISS. Leaks in old ISS modules * have repeatedly caused problems in recent years. Another company could put people in danger, it said. But what happens to the ISS when it is time to say goodbye?
Future of the ISS: Russia is planning its own space station – NASA is rehearsing for the crash
Russia is already planning its own space station for the future. According to the Russian space agency Roskosmos, the first module was already under construction in April. Roskosmos could then use the ISS * own modules in space for the new, purely Russian space station, explained space travel expert Eugen Reichl to the technology portal Futurezone. It is still unclear whether NASA *, the European space agency Esa or other participating partners will continue to operate the International Space Station ISS without Russian participation – at least until 2028.
The space authorities have long forged plans of what should happen to the 110-meter-long and 450-tonne International Space Station when it has completed its service in space. For comparison: a standard soccer field is 105 meters long.
First there was a plan to dismantle the station in space and bring the individual modules of the ISS back to earth with NASA space shuttles. However, these were withdrawn from circulation in 2011. In 2010, NASA then developed a plan to drop the International Space Station into the Pacific in a controlled manner. Like the Russian space station MIR in 2001.
| Surname | International Space Station (ISS) |
|---|---|
| Track height | About 400 kilometers |
| Orbital time around the earth | 93 minutes |
| begin | November 20, 1998 |
| permanently inhabited since | November 2, 2000 |
| Partners | 16 states (5 space agencies) |
According to the original plans, a Russian “Progress” spaceship was supposed to bring the ISS to the “spaceship graveyard” in the southern Pacific, but in 2018 NASA was already carrying out tests with its own Cygnus capsule. The reasoning behind this was: If the capsule manages to brake the ISS and bring it to crash in a controlled manner, one would not be dependent on the Russian space agency.
Disposal of the International Space Station: Should the ISS rather stay in space?
In order for the crash plans to work smoothly, Nasa and Roskosmos would have to come to an agreement and share the costs. The cooperation is currently overshadowed by a dangerous incident: at the end of July, the engines of the Russian ISS module “Nauka” ignited unexpectedly. According to the space agency Roskosmos, the reason was a software bug. During the incident, the ISS rotated 540 degrees and NASA briefly lost control of the space station *.
Fortunately, there was no major disaster, but such incidents could overshadow a joint approach by Russia and the USA * when disposing of the ISS. According to Eugen Reichl, a crash of the ISS would not be economical anyway. The expert told Futurezone that between 60 and 70 percent of the space station could still be used beyond 2025. So it would be better if the ISS remained in space even after the international crew had withdrawn.
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According to the expert, parts of the station could be used for a new space station. That is much more economical than manufacturing the individual modules again on earth and sending them into space. If the parts of the space station cannot be used as spare parts or as a basis for a new station, the ISS can also be sent to a higher orbit with a docked spaceship, Reichl told Futurezone. The ISS could hover around 1000 kilometers above the earth without constant propulsion and serve as a memorial or destination for space tourism *. (iwe) * fr.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
Rubric list image: © Nasa/dpa
