Jakarta –
It’s been 23 years since the International Space Station (ISS) accommodate astronauts up there. During that time, the structure gets older so that cracks and leaks often occur.
As a result, NASA is now discussing how to dispose of the station, which is planned to be done in the early 2030s. Unfortunately, this plan does not require cheap costs.
Referring to the report Scientific American quoted detikINET from Futurism, Tuesday (28/11/2023), the space agency has estimated the cost of the ISS disposal plan and the results are astonishing. To completely deactivate the ISS safely, including fires that do not harm the Earth, it would cost up to USD 1 billion (Rp. 15.5 trillion). Not to mention there is the possibility of a price increase.
Because the ISS was founded by five multinational space agencies, NASA, Roscosmos, JAXA, CSA, and ESA, this plan would also be the beginning of the end of international scientific relations that have lasted for decades, especially between the US and Russia.
“In terms of civil cooperation, I think many people would describe it as the greatest project ever initiated in human history,” said Mai’a Cross, a political scientist at Northeastern University.
ISS Discard Option
There are actually two options for dropping the ISS from Earth orbit. Engineers could easily make the ISS plunge uncontrollably into the atmosphere, but they could also make it descend more regularly using a special spacecraft.
In the first option, there is a risk of large pieces of the station scattering, falling into populated areas and then causing casualties.
“An uncontrolled fall could impact residents on the surface, including fatalities, injuries and property damage,” said George Nield, president of the company Commercial Space Technologies.
In this way, scientists are now trying to minimize the number of pieces that could harm people on the Earth’s surface, which is not easy to do because the station orbits the entire planet every 90 minutes.
Ideally, the ISS should go to the same point as it burns up in the atmosphere, but that’s hard to predict. NASA still needs to develop and construct a special aircraft that is strong enough to deorbit and deliver the station once it descends to Earth, to a safe location.
Even so, there is one thing that is certain. The ISS will fall to Earth with a powerful explosion, marking the end of sweet international relations related to scientific cooperation and the breakthroughs it has produced so far.
*This article was written by Khalisha Fitri, a participant in the Merdeka Campus Certified Internship Program at detikcom.
Watch Video “Soyuz Plane Launches from Kazakhstan, Sends Supplies to ISS”
(fyk/fyk)
2023-11-28 03:45:22
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