NASA is seeking help to build a space tug that will be deployed to safely deorbit the International Space Station at the end of its life in 2031.
The International Space Station is set to be decommissioned in 2031, at which point it will have spent three decades orbiting Earth.
Recommended Videos To ensure its safe destruction, the space agency will use a so-called “space tug,” officially known as the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle , to guide the ISS to a safe position whereupon it will descend at speed and mostly burn up in Earth’s atmosphere. However, some parts could survive the rapid descent, and so the deorbit maneuver must be carefully planned and executed to eliminate the possibility of any chunks of the ISS landing on a populated area.
According to comments made in March by Kathy Lueders, the then chief of NASA’s human spaceflight program, the final cost of the tug could reach almost $1 billion. The U.S., Japan, Canada, and the participating countries of ESA have committed to operating the orbital outpost through 2030, while Russia will keep cosmonauts on board through at least 2028.
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