International Space Station will retire and return to Earth in 2031

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently unveiled how it is planning to retire International Space Station (ISS), which is a unique space station currently in lower Earth orbit. The space station facilitates collaborative projects involving five participating space agencies: NASA, Roscosmos, JAXA, ESA and CSA.

The ISS is often visible to the naked eye from Earth's surface as it is the largest artificial object in space and the largest satellite in low Earth orbit.

NASA disclosed the $1 billion plan to carry out the re-entry of ISS back to Earth as it said that it aims to develop a new orbital vehicle that will be vital in the process.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

On September 20, NASA released an industry solicitation for a platform the agency is calling the US Deorbit Vehicle (USDV), which will be a catalyst in the safe return of the ISS.

Calling it a 'space tug', NASA has invited companies to develop a specialised vehicle which would manoeuvre ISS from its position 175 miles above Earth to approximately 75 miles. This would start the process.

"The primary objective of this contract is to procure a safe, reliable and cost-effective de-orbit vehicle to meet NASA’s ISS end-of-life de-orbit mission requirements,"NASA said as quoted by Flight Global.

As quoted by Earth.com, Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at Harvard University, said: "This has been done before, notably with the Mir space station. Many tons of material will hit the ocean relatively intact, and there will definitely be a warning to clear the airspace (we get about one of these a month for disposal of much smaller spacecraft like ISS cargo ships)."

"Here's what's tricky. You can fly the ISS safely down to an altitude of about 250 km. After that, you need this special USDV ship to take over the steering – it's like driving down a motorway with a lot of wind gusts – you need a lot of muscle power to stay on the road. If you ever lose control and the ISS starts tumbling, you're in trouble because then you can't reliably point the rocket engines in a particular direction," McDowell added.

Watch:Einstein proven right again! Humans are one step closer to understanding antimatter

The ISS emerged as an extraordinary platform for space scientists to analyse and understand the gazillion aspects of the universe. It is an orbital microgravity research platform for research and development.

Scientists and researchers have used the ISS for more than 20 years to research biological, physical, biomedicine, materials and Earth and space science on the 444,615kg gigantic structure.

The crew at the space station is an integral part of the experiment and has been a critical part. They volunteer as test subjects for research into human adaptation to living and working in microgravity.

During their long stays, they perform various experiments besides doing their own work like cooking, cleaning, etc. Without these long-duration experiments, human exploration of the solar system will not be possible.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE

You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.