NASA, SpaceX to turn 450-ton ISS into a fireball and crash it into ocean. Here's how it will impact Earth
Image of the International Space Station. (Courtesy: NASA)
NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX have joined hands in the mission to blast 450 tonnes of International Space Station (ISS) and finally push it inside an ocean grave.
The ISS has served as the perfect abode for the astronauts in space in the last 23 years. NASA announced in June that SpaceX would be paid $843 million for helping them in decommissioning the ISS.
Now on Wednesday (July 17), the detailed plan for pushing the ISS into the ocean was shared by NASA and SpaceX.
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The plan involved an extra-large and superpowered Dragon spaceshipwhich will push the space station outside its orbit and turn it into a fiery plummet which will eventually crash in a remote ocean grave, most likely by 2031.
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Currently, SpaceX's Dragon spaceships have been shuttling NASA astronautsand cargo, which are extremely light, to and from the space station.
This is the reason why SpaceX has been supercharging one of its Dragons to blast the space station.
According to the plan, one of the existing Cargo Dragon will be fitted with a new high-powered trunk by SpaceX and will be supercharged with 46 Draco engines.
The resulting "deorbit vehicle" will be nearly twice as long as any common Dragon ship and will be six times more propellant for producing four times the power.
SpaceX's director of Dragon mission management Sarah Walker said that the mission's most complex part is the final burn which will push the ISS towards its final descent.
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"This burn must be powerful enough to fly the entire space station, all the while resisting the torques and forces caused by increasing atmospheric drag on the space station to ensure that it ultimately terminates in the intended location," said Walker, in a briefing on Wednesday (July 17).
The final destination of the project will be a remote area of the ocean like the South Pacific, which has not been finalised yet.
NASA has decided to crash the football field-sized spacecraft nowhere but only in the open ocean to minimise its impact on Earth.
(With inputs from agencies)