ISS Operations Extended Through 2030

Flyaway

Flyaway

ACCESS: USAP
Senior Member
Joined
21 January 2015
Messages
10,692
Reaction score
12,360

Biden-Harris Administration Extends Space Station Operations Through 2030​

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced today the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to extend International Space Station (ISS) operations through 2030, and to work with our international partners in Europe (ESA, European Space Agency), Japan (JAXA, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Canada (CSA, Canadian Space Agency), and Russia (State Space Corporation Roscosmos) to enable continuation of the groundbreaking research being conducted in this unique orbiting laboratory through the rest of this decade.

“The International Space Station is a beacon of peaceful international scientific collaboration and for more than 20 years has returned enormous scientific, educational, and technological developments to benefit humanity. I’m pleased that the Biden-Harris Administration has committed to continuing station operations through 2030,” Nelson said. “The United States’ continued participation on the ISS will enhance innovation and competitiveness, as well as advance the research and technology necessary to send the first woman and first person of color to the Moon under NASA’s Artemis program and pave the way for sending the first humans to Mars. As more and more nations are active in space, it’s more important than ever that the United States continues to lead the world in growing international alliances and modeling rules and norms for the peaceful and responsible use of space.”

Over the past two decades, the United States has maintained a continuous human presence in orbit around the Earth to test technologies, conduct scientific research, and develop skills needed to explore farther than ever before. The unique microgravity laboratory has hosted more than 3,000 research investigations from over 4,200 researchers across the world and is returning enormous scientific, educational, and technological developments to benefit people on Earth. Nearly 110 countries and areas have participated in activities aboard the station, including more than 1,500,000 students per year in STEM activities.

Instruments aboard the ISS, used in concert with free-flying instruments in other orbits, help us measure the stresses of drought and the health of forests to enable improved understanding of the interaction of carbon and climate at different time scales. Operating these and other climate-related instruments through the end of the decade will greatly increase our understanding of the climate cycle.

Extending operations through 2030 will continue another productive decade of research advancement and enable a seamless transition of capabilities in low-Earth orbit to one or more commercially owned and operated destinations in the late 2020s. The decision to extend operations and NASA’s recent awards to develop commercial space stations together ensure uninterrupted, continuous human presence and capabilities; both are critical facets of NASA’s International Space Station transition plan.

blogs.nasa.gov

Biden-Harris Administration Extends Space Station Operations Through 2030 - Space Station

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced today the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to extend International Space Station (ISS) operations through
blogs.nasa.gov blogs.nasa.gov
 
 
Last edited:
It is pretty jaw-dropping, what "amateur" photographs can achieve those days. ISS is a giganormous structure, but an astronaut in comparison is kind of a headpin or needle in the haystack.
 
Flyaway said:
Different story today it seems.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1552357624393486336
View: https://twitter.com/joroulette/status/1552357624393486336


On @Reuters wire - Russian space officials told their U.S. counterparts on Tuesday that Moscow expects to remain on the International Space Station at least until the country's own outpost in orbit is built in 2028, a senior NASA official involved in the talks told Reuters.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

And given that there is no realistic chance of the Russian station (ROSS) being operational in 2028, this sounds like the Russians could well be with ISS until it reaches end of life in 2030.
 
When the ISS is decommissioned I hope it is boosted into a permanent-orbit instead of NASA's plans to de-orbit it (That would be a disgraceful act of vandalism for an historic history making structure), TheSpaceBucket has put out a video about NASA's long-term plan:


Despite the International Space Station’s two-plus decades of operations and mission support, NASA has made up its mind and plans to retire it. The continued cost to upkeep the station combined with future commercial expectations are some of the main reasons why it will be decommissioned. However, the process of deorbiting a 357-foot or 108-meter station is not very easy.
Click to expand...
This especially is the case when you consider that the station needs to burn up over a desolate area as some fragments will survive re-entry. In order to safely and in a controlled manner push the ISS out of orbit, NASA requires a de-orbit vehicle. The agency is now turning to the commercial industry for possible vehicles and spacecraft capable of the job.
Click to expand...
With an expected retirement date in 2030, the options could include SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, and a few others. Here I will go more in-depth into this new contract opportunity, how they plan to deorbit such a massive structure, the end of the ISS, and more.
Click to expand...
Full article here - https://thespacebucket.com/nasa-needs...
Click to expand...

Someone needs to make NASA consider the option of boosting the ISS into a permanent-orbit and if necessary giving the relevant NASA officials a size-12 boot up their arses if they don't consider it.
 
Vandalism would be to boost the ISS to a permanent orbit, leaving it free to shed orbital debris indefinitely. Reentry is the only sane option.
ISS operations will end because the station's structures are degrading. Past 2030, the safety of components like the seals between modules can no longer be guaranteed (some are past their design lifetime already), so the station cannot be maintained in a habitable state: it has to be depressurized.
 
Hobbes said:
Vandalism would be to boost the ISS to a permanent orbit, leaving it free to shed orbital debris indefinitely.
Click to expand...

No it wouldn't, not if it's done properly by firstly boosting it to a much higher orbit (Say 600-700 miles) then venting the modules.
 
NMaude said:
No it wouldn't, not if it's done properly by firstly boosting it to a much higher orbit (Say 600-700 miles) then venting the modules.
Click to expand...

The delta-v needed to boost ISS to that altitude would be quite large; it's just not technically feasible. Being a responsible space equipment operator means deorbiting equipment in a controlled manner before it becomes impossible to do so.
 
NMaude said:
When the ISS is decommissioned I hope it is boosted into a permanent-orbit instead of NASA's plans to de-orbit it (That would be a disgraceful act of vandalism for an historic history making structure), TheSpaceBucket has put out a video about NASA's long-term plan:

Someone needs to make NASA consider the option of boosting the ISS into a permanent-orbit and if necessary giving the relevant NASA officials a size-12 boot up their arses if they don't consider it.
Click to expand...
This is so uninformed.
There is no safe orbit for ISS. Anybody with spaceflight knowledge would know that.
It would shed regards of internal pressure (it sheds some now). There is no way to maintain attitude and altitude without propellant resupply. Its electronics would eventually fail and it would be uncontrolled and its attitude would unknown. Might even spin.

The propellant to boost it to 650nmi would be around 100klb, which is about 50 Progress launches. And it still would come down.

One of my work related pleasures is early planning for the US Deorbit Vehicle. Its propellant load would only get about 80 miles of altitude
 

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom