NASA has just announced that SpaceX will be the company in charge of putting an end to the International Space Station. The task of ending the existence of the ISS is a challenge for SpaceX, what NASA has requested is the creation of a vehicle whose capabilities allow it to dock with the ISS to make a change of orbit that will be the prelude to its destruction.
This final trajectory has the Pacific Ocean as a reference point, NASA expects most of the International Space Station to disintegrate as it enters the Earth’s atmosphere. What will happen to SpaceX’s vehicle? It will suffer the expected damage, so part of it will disappear along with the ISS.
Re-entry to Earth is the biggest problem facing NASA, and it is key that this situation is done in a controlled way and, that is why they have decided to bet on SpaceX for the construction of a vehicle to guide the ISS during the last moments of life.
NASA has tasked SpaceX with creating a vehicle to end the International Space Station
The project that SpaceX has taken on has funding of 843 million dollars for the development of this vehicle alone. In fact, NASA will be in charge of the vehicle once it has been put into orbit. Full details will be revealed over the next few years, with 2023 being the date on which the ISS will cease to exist.
SpaceX has called this new spacecraft or spacecraft USDV whose acronym stands for U.S. Deorbitant Vehicle. Although SpaceX will be in charge of developing this vehicle, NASA will be the final owner of USDV and will have power over this vehicle as well as responsibility for it.
Ken Bowersox, NASA’s Associate Administrator for Space Operations said:
The vehicle to deorbit the International Space Station will help NASA and its international partners ensure a safe and responsible transition into low-Earth orbit at the end of the station’s operations. This decision also supports NASA’s plans for future commercial destinations and allows for the continued use of near-Earth space.
The International Space Station is in good condition, the problem facing NASA is that its obsolescence is a matter of time and they cannot risk a space object of such dimensions entering Earth without any supervision or control.
Now, all that remains is to wait for SpaceX to show its progress on the future USDV that will put an end to the existence of the ISS and, in addition, say goodbye to one of humanity’s most ambitious projects. The International Space Station has marked a milestone in the collaboration of several countries to understand space.
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