An internal NASA document that The Washington Post has had access to reveals that the current US administration wants to turn the International Space Station (ISS) into an infrastructure managed and maintained by private companies, which would take advantage of it for their business.
This document announces that the United States will stop providing funds to the ISS in 2024, the year in which the 2014 agreement expires whereby the United States, Russia, the European Union, Japan and Canada pledged to collaborate for another decade. in the maintenance of this laboratory-station that orbits the Earth at an altitude of 400 kilometers.
If we take into account that the country chaired by Donald Trump covers around 65% of the ISS expenses, this decision could end the operational life of the largest infrastructure put by man in space, which has already received some 130,000 million euros in its two decades of existence. In addition, Russia has announced that it is considering building its own station, and the other states involved have not defined their position on the future of this orbital laboratory, whose future is unknown beyond 2024.
The space is open to private initiative
The NASA document, however, does not talk about taking the ISS out of orbit, but about turning it into a platform managed by private companies, at least in part. This intention goes one step further in the new strategy of US space policy. During the Barack Obama presidency, some companies were already authorized to bring cargo to the ISS, and firms such as Space X and Boeing have collaborated closely with NASA for years. Space travel is very expensive, and the United States is looking for partners to help pay the bill, in exchange for new avenues of business being opened up for them.
However, privatizing the ISS will not be so easy. Voices against it have been raised in the United States, including within the Republican Party. They argue that the American taxpayer has contributed close to 90,000 million dollars to the International Space Station, and that after this expense the ISS cannot simply be transferred to the private sector.
Furthermore, the technical difficulties are considerable. It is far from clear that six years from now there will be companies capable of sending astronauts to the station and keeping it operational.
A multinational laboratory
The International Space Station is traveling at 28,800 km / h and it only takes 90 minutes to complete one orbit of the Earth. Its first module arrived in space in 1998, and in the following years new elements were added until it reached its current dimensions: 110 m × 100 m × 30 m, with a large living space.
Fifteen countries contribute to its management, although the most involved in the long run are the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada and the members of the European Union. So far, it has been visited by 230 astronauts of 18 nationalities, and it has been the scene of dozens of experiments and investigations.
