NASA admits deorbiting the ISS and its flooding in the Pacific Ocean in 2031 | Scientific discoveries and technical innovations from Germany | DW

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) allows the International Space Station (ISS) to be deorbited in January 2031 with its subsequent flooding in the Pacific Ocean. This is stated in a NASA report released on Tuesday, February 1.

The ISS is scheduled to be de-orbited from low Earth orbit by a series of retrograde orbit correction maneuvers. Operators will then turn on the engines on the ships docked to it, allowing the station to be lowered to the lowest possible level and ensure its safe re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, and then to be scuttled in the “Spaceship Graveyard” in the South Pacific.

For the first time, they started talking about the flooding of the ISS in 2021. At the same time, Vladimir Solovyov, Flight Director of the Russian Segment of the ISS, said that Russia does not plan to undock and flood its segment and hopes for a civilized completion of work at the station.

In August last year, the head of Roskosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said that in the event of withdrawal from the ISS project, Russia would fulfill its obligations to organize the flooding of the station. At the same time, he emphasized that it was the Russian side that should flood the ISS. There are agreements on this with NASA partners.

The ISS will expire in 2024. Russia is negotiating an extension of this period until 2030.

See also:

• 30 years of the Mir space station: how it was

  Soviet outpost

  The idea to create a permanent orbital space station originated in the USSR back in the 1970s. Thus, the Soviet Union wanted to surpass the US in the race for dominance in outer space. In 1986, Moscow launched the Mir complex, the most complex of all previously existing stations, into orbit.

• 

  30 years of the Mir space station: how it was

  The international cooperation

  After the end of the Cold War, Russia faced a shortage of resources. The era of international cooperation began on Mir. For example, the American shuttle Atlantis made several flights to the station (pictured). The station weighing almost 140 tons was also visited by four German cosmonauts.

• 

  30 years of the Mir space station: how it was

  Numerous visitors

  Among those who worked at the Mir complex is the German astronaut Reinhold Ewald (on the photo – 2nd from the right in the top row). He arrived at the station in 1997 on a Russian Soyuz. In total, more than 100 astronauts from different countries visited the Mir. While Ewald was there, a fire broke out at the orbital station, which, however, was quickly extinguished.

• 

  30 years of the Mir space station: how it was

  Failures, breakdowns, malfunctions …

  Among other things, Mir is the record holder for the number of breakdowns. The materials from which the station was made quickly wore out. Either the coolant leaked, the on-board computer turned off, and once the Progress transport ship damaged the solar panels during docking (pictured). The orbital station is “not a waiting room with plush chairs,” astronaut Reinhold Ewald noted at the time.

• 

  30 years of the Mir space station: how it was

  On the way to the ISS

  The United States, which partially financed the work of the Mir station after the collapse of the USSR, insisted on the joint creation of a new international space station. With the beginning of the construction of the ISS in 1998, the gradual dismantling of Mir also began. For 15 years spent in orbit, Mir has made more than 86 thousand revolutions around the globe.

• 

  30 years of the Mir space station: how it was

  End of pilot project

  The Mir station is considered an important stage in the development of international cooperation in space exploration. “Without this experience, we would still be at the very beginning of the journey,” says German astronaut Thomas Reiter. On March 23, 2001, the Mir, which had worked three times longer than originally scheduled, was sunk in the South Pacific Ocean. Author: Nicholas Martin, Alexandra Yolkina

  Author: Nicholas Martin, Alexandra Yolkina