Posted on 08/12/2021 3:35:52 PM PDT by BenLurkin
NASA is trying to figure out how to dispose of the International Space Station, in the eventual — and fiery — conclusion to decades of invaluable research in microgravity...
Nobody knows precisely when exactly the aging orbital outpost’s end will come. A NASA safety panel did approve a plan back in 2019, according NASASpaceflight, to have at least two Russian-made Progress spacecraft drag the 450-ton structure into the Earth’s atmosphere, where it will turn into a giant flaming ball of molten metal and other materials.
NASA and its international partners have yet to fully commit to a specific plan.
“NASA is continuing to work with its international partners to ensure a safe deorbit plan of the station and is considering a number of options,” NASA spokeswoman Leah Cheshier told UPI, noting that such the station’s death is “negotiation-sensitive at this time.”
(Excerpt) Read more at futurism.com ...
Lol! Yup. Coming up on 10 years since I got laid off/retired. Shorter lag between Apollo and shuttle but this lag is pretty lame. Oh well, it was an interesting 36 years. 🚀😀
Are you serious? Do you know the amount of fuel required to take 450 tons from low earth orbit to Mars? Hint: It’s a lot more than 450 tons of fuel. Just remember that the it took the Saturn V rocket just to get a small spaceship to the moon.
Didn’t NASA delay the Back to the Moon thing because of the Space Suit , they have like 27 companies building the suit ,LOL NASA has become so Diverse it’s now useless
Absolutely. Why would we want to risk bringing it down our way? Dumb as hell. Stab it with a rocket spear and send it away.
And control where it hits the earth, The Pacific Ocean is big and mostly empty.
And thousands more at Cape Canaveral. They lost some serious brainpower and experience.
-PJ
Don’t you Martha’s Vineyard?
In space once it is moving it keeps moving on it’s own. Just be sure and aim it right and it will be good after just accelerating it away. Asteroids don’t use fuel.
NASA is a jobs program now not a space exploration agency.
“WHY?”
Since everyone is building a rocket to get up there, make it a museum with walking tours. It could be a 3 day space encounter:
one day to get up there and secure that luxury suite, next day tour to include a space walk, and then a third day splash down in the Bahamas to meet your cruise ship and arrive at Port Canaveral where you can bus to Disney World eating churros, Mickey Mouse ice cream bars, and enjoying the poolside sun. Cost? ‘Bout a half million if you don’t fly first class section.
Never waste a good con.
wy69
I would have thought the world would be much more futuristic than this...
And don’t get me started about flying cars!
Send it to Venus. I like the idea. Might contaminate Mars but Venus has heat andsulfuric acid it will be absorbed
Accelerating 450 to to escape velocity is no easy feat. It would require perhaps a thousand tons of fuel, maybe more to escape Earth’s gravity well.
Is Point Nemo filled up? That works for other space stuff. Why do bureaucrats have to make things so complicated?
Strap a BFR to it and send it full speed into the three gorges dam?
it’ll probably fall on its own if they put a fiat label on it...
Send it into a higher synchronous orbit over the US that will keep it ‘out there’ for another generation to explore the after effects of abandoning the station.
I politely disagree. The Saturn V/Apollo was the best machine ever built.
Fuel it up and then fly it to the moon and land it there. Instant moon base.
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