Do not destroy the International Space Station, urge former agency leaders. Here's why

The International Space Station has been in orbit for over 25 years now. It has hosted several astronauts from different countries and has been home to several experiments. But now NASA is planning to de-orbit it and bring it back to Earth. They are hoping that it will burn up as it re-enters the planet's atmosphere. The space agency has awarded a one billion dollar contract to SpaceX to develop a "US Deorbit Vehicle" which can remove the space station from orbit.

NASA plans on destroying the ISS by 2030, but some people who were a part of its construction process do not agree with the current officials. Jean-Jacques Dordain, the director general of the European Space Agency at the time the station was being built, and former NASA administrator Michael Griffin want ISS to continue for longer, even if to serve a different purpose. They say that the ISS can give future scientists a chance to continue studying outer space.

In an interview with Forbes, Dordain said, "As two among many builders of ISS, we recommend to those in charge to consider other options than destroying the station." They say that the fate of the ISS should be decided by the future generations.

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Why save the space station?

The two say that SpaceX's deorbit vehicle can be put to better use - instead of destroying the space station, it can increase the ISS's altitude. That way it can enter a stable orbit much farther from the Earth. In a letter published by SpaceNews, the two argue that the ISS can be boosted from its present 400-kilometre altitude to an 800-kilometre altitude circular orbit with a boost of about 220 metres per second. "This is the same as required for precise deorbit control."

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"At the higher altitude, the orbital lifetime would be many decades, providing ample time for future generations to take their own decisions and actions. For that, the ISS should be left in a condition such that no part of it can explode and create a long-lived debris hazard," they added.

They clarify that they are "not in charge anymore", but question that "since the boost stage must be built anyway, would it not be better to use that stage to place the ISS in a higher orbit for the possible use of a future generation than to destroy it upon re-entry?"

The ISS was built following collaborations between five space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada).

(With inputs from agencies)