Space The ISS space station will be dropped into the Pacific in early 2031

International the ISS space station will be run down in the next few years. It has been known for a long time, as many parts of the station are more than 20 years old.

The U.S. space agency Nasa announced earlier this week that the station will be directed lower into a dense atmosphere in early 2031.

Much of the station burns in the atmosphere. The station heats up as it encounters an increasingly dense air mass.

The part of the station that is not burning is diverted to the space cemetery in the Pacific Ocean. The seaside is called Point Free. The area is as far away from the settlement as possible and from the continents and islands.

At the space station has lived with astronauts without breaks since 2000. The station is also getting older. It is also unreasonably expensive to maintain.

Nasa plans to use commercial services in space in the future. By 2030, there will be more than one.

Nasa supplied the United States report to Congress, which tells you how to shut down.

“Private space companies are developing technically and financially good targets for the Earth’s shallow orbits. This is where Nasa helps, ”said Nasa’s director of commercial parts Phil McAlister In Nasa’s press release.

Nasa received last year by the president Joe Biden administration permission to extend Use of the ISS space station from 2024 to 2031.

According to Nasa, its own share of the space station will remain in order until the early 2030s. Nasa also promises to support maintenance in other countries.

The space station has also been built and maintained by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the national space agencies of Japan and Canada. Russia is also involved.

Russia, for example, will have to assess how long it will take service module Zvezda take. There have been recent air leaks.

Nasa last December, it granted about $ 416 million, or about $ 364 million, to three U.S. commercial space companies.

They were Blue Origin, Nanoracks and Northrop Grumman. They are all aimed at space stations that would orbit the Earth in a low orbit.

The space company Axiom Space is also already building a commercial module on the side of the ISS. It is supposed to become a platform or a pop-up for a new separate space station.

Nasa will choose at least one commercial station as early as 2025. It would host the country’s own astronauts. The modules in the new station can at least be used to populate astronauts, perhaps for experiments.

Expiring The orbit of the ISS station will be gradually lowered as early as the second half of the 2020s. Now the station orbits the Earth at an altitude of about 400 kilometers.

Even there, molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere slightly slow down the movement of the station. Therefore, the trajectory of the station must be lifted from time to time by means of rocket engines for service vessels.

Aseman in the final devastation, at least three Russian Progress service vessels slowly plunge the station into a lower, Earth-thickening atmosphere.

It can take months. The U.S. cargo ship Cygnus is also likely to take part in the downtime, says website Science Alert.

The crews would leave the station in early 2030. The rest will be remotely controlled from Earth in late 2030.

The station will be routed in a controlled manner to the last plunge in early 2031. The big station is not completely destroyed in the atmosphere.

Its burnt parts are diverted to an isolated marine area in the South Pacific. It already is designated a spacecraft cemetery.

Sea area is far off the coasts of New Zealand and Chile. The nearest land area is almost 2,700 kilometers.

They were directed there also the dilapidated Mir space station of the Soviet Union and later Russia in March 2001. It was smaller than the ISS station but much used space station from 1986 to 2001.

As the h-moment approaches, a debate will probably arise again as to whether the parts of the disintegrating position are a danger to people and objects. The uproar was great when Mir was down. There was no damage.

ISS drive Nasa expects savings of about $ 1.75 billion, or about $ 1.5 billion a year, from the shutdown. Commercial flights are so much cheaper than station maintenance.

The savings will be channeled to various flights to the Moon and the planning of a flight to Mars. Mars is Nasa’s long-term goal.