On Thursday, NASA selected SpaceX to build a Deorbit Vehicle - whose only purpose is to de-orbit the International Space Station (ISS) and crash it into the ocean.
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The SpaceX Deorbit Vehicle will attach to the ISS, and guide or fly it back down to Earth in a controlled way. The Space Station does not have its own thrusters, so it can't do it itself.
It will act much like a tugboat guiding a cruise ship or container ship in and out of harbour.
It will aim for Point Nemo in the South Pacific Ocean - the most remote place on Earth - the furthest point on Earth away from any land.
Until two years ago, NASA was planning on funding and using the ISS until the end of this year. This was due to NASA ramping up its Artemis program, the new missions to the Moon. This will include the Gateway, the first space station to be in orbit around the Moon.
By slowly backing out in 2025, NASA could save money and focus, with the hope that other partners, both other countries and private companies, would take over.
Two years ago, NASA decided to extend their role and operation in the ISS until 2030, in part because of the science it can still do, and that the Artemis missions are delayed.
Going to 2030 will also allow private companies to build up their role in space.
![The International Space Station on an orbit of Earth. Picture Shutterstock The International Space Station on an orbit of Earth. Picture Shutterstock](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/XBxJDq6WLub2UphQ8wEq23/054e43f8-32e8-4bca-a4b9-7e0eeeb4e426.jpg/r0_156_5000_2967_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Axiom Space are planning to launch their own space station in 2026 that would attach to the ISS. In 2030, it will separate and orbit by itself. They already are operating private missions to the space station, having had two missions thus far. They are also designing new space suits for NASA.
Blue Origin, founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, which sends people up to the edge of space on short tourist flights, has plans to launch their own space station in 2027.
The question always remained was what to do with the ISS in 2030.
There is a finite lifetime to how long the ISS can safely operate. Having launched in 1998, some modules will have been in space for over 30 years. When was the last time you replaced your car or phone?
Now imagine the harsh conditions of space - the vacuum of space, the extreme temperatures - between -150 and 150 degrees, space junk and micrometeoroids causing small punctures and more.
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It won't last forever, and leaving it in space could create issues. The Space Station is 420 tonnes and the size of a football field. It could break apart and turn into space junk which would cause a huge number of problems.
They could raise its orbit to get it out of the way, but that only delays the inevitable - coming back down to Earth. It would be virtually impossible to have enough energy to push it out of Earth's orbit.
The best of the bad options is to have a controlled re-entry of the space station. Instead of being an uncontrolled re-entry, like the US's Skylab which crashed in WA in 1979 or the SpaceX capsule in Jindabyne and Dalgety in 2022.
And so in 2030, a unique space mission will launch, with the only purpose to bring back the ISS and crash into the Earth.
- Brad Tucker is an astrophysicist and cosmologist at Mount Stromlo Observatory, and the National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at ANU