SpaceX Awarded the Contract to Help Crash the International Space Station into the Sea

[Peter_Brosdahl]

SpaceX has been awarded the contract to develop and deliver the deorbit vehicle that will bring down the International Space Station in 2030. NASA formally announced plans to decommission the station in 2022 and now it has decided that SpaceX will facilitate its splashdown into the sea. The contract is estimated to be worth $843 […]

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[Grimlakin]

Geebus I want to follow this one. Imagine if they 'accidentally' drop it on a city in a country we have a bad relationship with... like... China or Russia. That's a what.. several thousand ton weapon of mas destruction here.

 

[Riccochet]

Geebus I want to follow this one. Imagine if they 'accidentally' drop it on a city in a country we have a bad relationship with... like... China or Russia. That's a what.. several thousand ton weapon of mas destruction here.

The majority of it will burn up on reentry.

 

[David_Schroth]

Geebus I want to follow this one. Imagine if they 'accidentally' drop it on a city in a country we have a bad relationship with... like... China or Russia. That's a what.. several thousand ton weapon of mas destruction here.

Kind of like the mir?

 

[Grimlakin]

The majority of it will burn up on reentry.

I hope it was designed to do just that. But I don't know.

 

[Riccochet]

I hope it was designed to do just that. But I don't know.

It's all extremely thin, light weight material with zero reentry shielding. I'm sure some of it will make it to the water, just not much of it.

 

[Burticus]

If they can launch something to assist bringing it down... how about, oh I dunno, launching something to raise it's orbit back up? Why destroy the ISS, it's not like it's milk or eggs that goes bad? I understand maintenance is a thing. But if we destroy it, we have nothing to replace it with any time soon or likely in my lifetime....

 

[Brian_B]

I can see some of wanting to keep the ISS running - I think space research is a worth while endeavor.

On the other hand - it launched in 1998, and I can see the value in decommissioning it entirely for replacement. There’s been a lot of technology in the past 25 years

Deorbiting does clear it as space junk, but I hate to see it go without a replacement

 

[Riccochet]

It's old, constantly needing repairs, and is just small for what can be built with current technology.

SpaceX will probably have a new one built in 3 months at 1/5 the cost. LOL

 

[MadMummy76]

SpaceX the company notorious for their trial and error approach gets the contract to do sg you must get right on the first attempt? I hope the ISS orbit does not pass above my house.

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

Yeah, I pretty much felt the same. I instantly figured this was just another cherry on top of the cake they were already getting from NASA.