NASA Selects SpaceX to develop the International Space Station US Deorbit Vehicle
NASA Selects SpaceX to develop the International Space Station US Deorbit Vehicle
NASA is fostering continued scientific, educational, and technological developments in low Earth orbit to benefit humanity, while also supporting deep space
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Looks like a $843 million contract to deorbit it sometime in 2030, and the deorbit vehicle is going to burn up as well. They could maybe just send up a starship without any tiles/flaps at that point? Hopefully some of these commercial LEO stations really get going before then to replace it...
According to a different article I was just reading, sounds like the 2030 isn't a hard date and it may be extended if commercial stations aren't ready to go:
While the 2030 end date has been referenced in NASA budgetary materials in recent years, some NASA officials have stated that the station could potentially remain operational past that date. "There's nothing magical that happens in 2030," Steve Stich, manager of NASA"s commercial crew program at Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, said during a Jan. 25, 2024 briefing.
Stich added that the ISS will continue operations until commercial space stations are in orbit and ready for crews. "We want [the commercial stations] to be supportive, and then when they're ready to go, that's when ISS will move out of the way," Stich said.
Source: https://www.space.com/nasa-spacex-international-space-station-deorbit-vehicle
Part of why the commercial stations won't be ready is because the ISS won't commit to a deorbit date, so they can't predict the market!
2030 should be the absolute latest, or the leaks on the Russian side will take the whole thing down.
It would need suitable engines for the deorbit burn. I'm not sure that the RCS thrusters would be powerful enough. The raptors are too powerful, even one at minimum throttle would probably rip the ISS apart.
Or the mythical Dragon XL?