NASA plans to develop a craft capable of knocking the International Space Station (ISS) out of orbit and self-destructing while flying in Earth’s atmosphere.
The ISS station operates at an altitude of more than 400 m above the Earth’s surface.
The ISS station operates at an altitude of more than 400 m above the Earth’s surface. (Picture: iЅtock)
At the March 13 press conference, NASA expected spent $180 million has build a space tug that can help the ISS out of orbit safely and fell into the ocean after the end of its operating period in 2030, while carrying out many other activities. The new ship also supports deorbit activities of ISS station partners (space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan).
The current plan is to burn the engine of the Russian-supplied Progress automatic cargo ship so that the ISS station gradually reduces its altitude. Instead of depending on the Russian system, The spacecraft produced by NASA will allow the United States to be more proactive in the process of returning the ISS station to Earthespecially when the two Russian vehicles connecting to the station continually leaked coolant.. The Soyuz astronaut capsule lost all its coolant on December 14, 2022, and the Progress spacecraft also had the same problem on February 11, 2023. According to Russia, it is likely that the leak on the Soyuz ship was was caused by a collision with a micrometeor, while the incident on the Progress ship was caused by “external influence”which can happen during launch.
In addition, Russia also announced that it will withdraw from the ISS station early (after 2024) to build its own space station in low Earth orbit. This information is likely to motivate NASA to develop new spacecraft.
Also during the press conference, NASA said that the budget for the Artemis program for next year will be $8.1 billion. The budget will help NASA achieve two important milestones in the near future: the launch of Artemis 2 and Artemis 3 in November 2024 and December 2025, respectively. The Artemis 2 mission will take astronauts around the Moon and Artemis 3 will land near the Moon’s south pole in the first human mission since Apollo 17 in December 1972. However, the Artemis 4 mission will be postponed until 2028 in an effort to assembling NASA’s Gateway space station in lunar orbit, if all goes according to plan.
Article source: VnExpress
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NASA plans to develop a craft capable of knocking the International Space Station (ISS) out of orbit and self-destructing while flying in Earth’s atmosphere.
