Skip to main content

NASA may use a ‘space tug’ to decommission the space station

NASA is aiming to build a special spacecraft capable of guiding the International Space Station to a safe deorbit position when it’s decommissioned in 2030.

Details of the plan were laid out in recent days when the White House released its budget request for 2024.

Recommended Videos

The proposed $27.2 billion allocation for NASA includes $180 million to begin the development of a so-called “space tug” designed to ensure that the station safely burns up as it enters Earth’s atmosphere in seven years’ time, Space.com reported.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

However, the final cost of the tug could reach almost $1 billion, according to comments made on Monday by Kathy Lueders, chief of NASA’s human spaceflight program.

As things stand, the ISS could be deorbited by a docked Russian Progress cargo vehicle using a series of engine burns to alter the station’s course. But according to SpaceNews, NASA has concluded that “additional spacecraft may provide more robust capabilities for deorbit,” prompting the agency to explore the idea of a specially designed space tug.

The space station went into service two decades ago as a place for astronauts to live and work, performing science experiments in microgravity conditions. But its aging design means the facility, which orbits 250 miles above Earth, will be destroyed in a few years from now.

At more than 100 meters end to end, great care will need to be taken when decommissioning the space station. For example, it has to be maneuvered clear of functioning satellites and any large pieces of space junk before being set on a course that will result in much of it burning up over the Pacific Ocean. However, some of it is expected to plunge into the sea at Point Nemo, a spot well away from land that’s known as “the space cemetery” as it’s often targeted for controlled descents of space junk.

NASA is partnering with private firms with the aim of building a replacement station, while China recently set up its own orbital facility. Russia has also expressed an interest in building its own space-based laboratory in low-Earth orbit, with all these projects ensuring that humans — albeit a select few — will continue to live and work in space for years to come.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
This is the coolest camera lens swap you’ll ever see
Don Pettit on the ISS.

 

Don Pettit has been at it again. Not content with dazzling earthlings with incredible photos captured from his current home aboard the International Space Station (ISS), the NASA astronaut has now taken us behind the camera to show you the coolest lens change you’ve ever seen.

Read more
This rocket-launch photo is unlike any you’ve seen before
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket visible as a streak of light from bottom right to top left.

Blue Origin launched its New Glenn heavy-lift rocket for the first time last week, and news sites and social media feeds were quick to share dramatic images of the 98-meter-tall rocket heading toward the heavens.

At the same time, NASA astronaut Don Pettit captured the launch in a long exposure from the International Space Station (ISS) some 250 miles above Earth. The result is a rocket-launch photo unlike any you’ve seen before:

Read more
SpaceX makes incredible booster catch but loses rocket on seventh Starship test flight
SpaceX

SpaceX has made an incredible catch of its Super Heavy Booster during the seventh test flight of its Starship rocket, but has lost the vehicle. Launched at 5:37 p.m. ET today, Thursday January 16, from SpaceX's facility in Boca Chica, Texas, this is only the second time that the enormous booster of the Starship has been caught, as part of SpaceX's aim to create a reusable heavy lift vehicle.

However, the upper stage of the Starship -- the part which should travel into orbit and deploy payloads -- seemed to have issues with its engines during its ascent, and communications with it were lost around 10 minutes after launch, around the time of main engine cut-off.

Read more