NASA Has Plans To Crash The International Space Station Into The Pacific Ocean Within A Decade
According to reports, the International Space Station will 'deorbit' and smash into the Pacific Ocean in 2031. ISS was launched in 1998 and was designed to last for just 15 years. However, when it finally lands back on Earth in less than ten years time, it will have been operational for more than thirty years.
According to reports, the International Space Station (ISS) will 'deorbit' and smash into the Pacific Ocean in 2031.
ISS was launched in 1998 and was designed to last for just 15 years. However, when it finally lands back on Earth in less than ten years time, it will have been operational for more than thirty years.
NASA's new report reveals how the future will look for ISS and how it will eventually end up in a 'spacecraft cemetery'.
NASA
Writing in the International Space Station Transition Report, NASA said: ¡°The ISS is a unique laboratory that is returning enormous scientific, educational, and technological developments to benefit people on Earth and is enabling our ability to travel into deep space."
¡°Based on the ISS structural health analysis, there is high confidence that its life can be extended through 2030. ¡°The technical lifetime of the ISS is limited by the primary structure, which includes the modules, radiators and truss structures," it added.
The space agency has said that it wants to slowly lower ISS' orbiting altitude, which will see it being dragged and pulled lower at such a speed it will start to heat up and throw off debris on its way.
NASA
NASA does not want any of the debris, or what is left of the space station to cause any damage to Earth, so to avoid that, it will have a splash landing in an uninhabited area of the South Pacific Ocean near to Point Nemo, which is also known as the 'spacecraft cemetery'.
The report added, "Eventually, after performing manoeuvres to line up the final target ground track and debris footprint over the South Pacific Oceanic Uninhabited Area (SPOUA), the area around Point Nemo, ISS operators will perform the ISS re-entry burn, providing the final push to lower ISS as much as possible and ensure safe atmospheric entry.¡±
The report speaks of an ideal scenario and things may not run this smoothly in reality.
Point Nemo
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