Science News Desk – The International Space Station has been providing its services for more than two decades. When it was launched, its estimated age was said to be around 15 years. That is, after 1997, first in 2013, its lifetime was extended twice to 2020 and then to 2024 and now to 2030. It will be a big task to remove it from the lower orbit of the earth. For this, NASA has planned to build a new spacecraft, which will work to give it a “place”.
what’s the problem
The International Space Station is a huge station. The size of the space station weighing 4 lakh 20 thousand kg is 74 by 110 meters, which is almost equal to a football field. If such a large station were to be decommissioned in low Earth orbit, it would become debris in that orbit and a major threat to other satellites orbiting there.
How to deal with it
In such a situation, NASA has brainstormed to work on a plan to retire it. As part of a space tug program, NASA is looking to remove it from its current orbit, after which it will enter the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up in that part. Point Nemo says. NASA wants to execute its action plan by 2030.
budget demand
Efforts are also visible to implement this plan. Recently NASA has given its budget request for the year 2024 to the US government. If this President Joe Biden and NASA get its permission, then NASA will get $ 27.2 billion, which will be $ 2 billion more than last year. Of this allocation, $1.8 million will be used for the Space Tug program of the ISS.
Russia is also in talks
The plan is to continue using the currently working parts on the space station, with Russia already adding a new part to the space station. At the same time, NASA is also in talks with Russia to remove the space station from a safe orbit. It is worth noting here that even though Russia and America are at loggerheads from a geopolitical point of view, both are still allies regarding the space station.
Russian cooperation
Not only Russia, even NASA cannot operate the space station well on its own because many of its important responsibilities have been assigned to Russia. Russia has decided not to extend its agreement to remain connected to the station until 2024, but until then it has also promised to fully fulfill its commitment to cooperation, and it is doing so.
but other countries are
But Russia and America are not partners in this space station, many countries including European Union, Canada are involved in it. But NASA wants to work on a different plan. NASA’s decision also seems right considering the situation in Russia-US relations due to the Ukraine war. After 2024, Russia is working on its International Space Station.
There is no doubt that the way the Russian part of the space station malfunctioned and the leaking incident made the situation worrying, but letting the space station sit idle would be a bigger failure for NASA than to deal with it. . this problem. He will also be able to enhance his leadership in the field of space and other countries of the world will also be inspired to join NASA. This will also give direction to future campaigns.