The International Space Station (ISS) has been in space for more than 23
years. The age of this space laboratory is not long, and NASA is already
preparing plans to retire the ISS.
In its latest official statement, NASA revealed that the ISS will still be
operational until the end of 2030. After that, the ISS will enter retirement
and will be sunk at Point Nemo, a remote point in the Pacific Ocean.
NASA calls retirement a transition from operations to commercial services.
Upon retirement, the ISS will be replaced by a private company-built
commercial space station as a venue for scientific collaboration and
research.
"The International Space Station is entering its third and most productive
decade as an innovative scientific platform on microgravity," said Robyn
Gatens, Director of International Space Station at NASA.
"We hope to maximize this yield from the space station through 2030 while
planning the transition to commercial space destinations that will follow."
In the ISS Transition Plan document submitted to the US Congress, NASA
outlines the process for bringing the ISS back to Earth. First, mission
control will run the thrusters to slowly lower the altitude of the ISS.
After approaching Earth's atmosphere around January 2031, the ISS will
perform its final maneuver to ensure that its remains fall into the South
Pacific Oceanic Uninhabited Area (SPOUA), also known as Point Nemo.
The Point Nemo area is often chosen to drop space junk from orbit because it
is the farthest point from land. Since 1971, countries such as the US,
Russia, and Japan have dumped more than 263 space debris at the site.
"NASA and its partners have evaluated various numbers of Russia's Progress
spacecraft," NASA wrote in the report. They can also use Northrop Grumman's
Cyrus spacecraft to aid in the process.
Given that the ISS will soon be retiring, NASA has also been looking for a
replacement. The US space agency has partnered with companies such as Blue
Origin, Nanoracks, and Northrop Grumman to develop a commercial space
station.
NASA is also still planning to send astronauts to the Moon long before the
ISS is retired. To help NASA achieve its mission to explore deep space, the
ISS is expected to become an analogue for transit missions to Mars.
NASA currently manages the ISS with Russia, Japan, Canada and Europe. Russia
will reportedly exit the ISS in 2025 and will launch its own space station
before 2030.
China, which is not allowed to join the ISS, has also started sending its
astronauts to the Tianhe space station module since last year. Although not
as big as the ISS, China's space station is predicted to start operating by
the end of this year.
