SpaceX to deliver vehicle to deorbit International Space Station
NASA chose SpaceX to create the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle for the ISS, ensuring a safe disposal after its 2030 lifespan. The $843 million contract supports NASA's space exploration goals.
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NASA has selected SpaceX to develop and deliver the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle for the International Space Station (ISS) to ensure a safe and controlled deorbit process after the station's operational life ends in 2030. The $843 million contract will see SpaceX creating the vehicle, which NASA will then own and operate. The deorbit spacecraft will be responsible for safely disposing of the ISS, preventing any risk to populated areas. The decision aligns with NASA's plans for future commercial space destinations and the continued use of space near Earth. The ISS, a collaborative effort among five space agencies, has been operational for 24 years and serves as a vital platform for scientific research and technology demonstrations in microgravity. The safe deorbit of the ISS is a shared responsibility among the agencies involved in its operation. This move marks NASA's commitment to advancing scientific, educational, and technological developments in low Earth orbit while preparing for deep space exploration missions to the Moon and Mars.
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22 comments> The single-award contract has a total potential value of $843 million. The launch service for the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle will be a future procurement.
So...with $843M, what could SpaceX come up with? In Gwynne's shoes, I'd be looking to develop a vehicle with far wider application than a 1-off LEO deorbit burn.
And, given the inability of most of SpaceX's competition to reliably delivery anything to orbit, I suspect that NASA has similar hopes.
Trying to raise the orbit: The ISS orbits very close to the "bottom" of the zone of vaguely-stableish LEO orbits. Really-stable, "vacant" orbits, suitable for long-term inert storage - those are far, far higher. Think of having a reproduction Viking longboat on the beach. Pushing it "down", into the sea, is work - but not too much. Vs. if you wanted to push that longboat uphill, to an elevation of a few thousand feet? Vastly more work.
Trying to keep using it, long after the lifetime that the Materials Engineering & Mechanical Engineering experts designed it for, might turn out like this:
https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/falling-to-pieces-the-ne...
- except with all the astronauts dead.
As complex structures under load (like pressurized ISS modules) age, the properties of the materials they're made of change - often for the worse. And microscopic cracks form & grow, joints (intentional or not) work and wear, inelastic deformation accumulates and shifts stress to areas not designed to withstand it, and so on.
When ISS was lofted the cost to get into space was crazy high. 1981 Space Shuttle was $65k per KG to LEO. Falcon 9 is somewhere in the range of $2500 per KG to LEO. Falcon Heavy is even less than that at around $1000 per KG to LEO. It wouldn't surprise me if Starship is even cheaper.
So why spend millions of dollars trying to "save a buck" on components when you can launch newer/better/stronger/lighter (ex: Sierra Space's LIFE Hab) for orders of magnitude cheaper than you could "back in the day".
$843 seems like way to much money for this job. Seems like about 400 million $ of that would just be mission assurance.
The whole Falcon 9 program didn't even cost 400 million $ to develop initially. That includes developing a new engine.
Unless there are some crazy requirements here that I don't see, this is a great deal for SpaceX.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_of_inaccessibility#Oceani...
Does SpaceX just open their stack to NASA? Or does SpaceX just provide an 'api' layer of control, making this 'own and operate' a weird almost anachronistic distinction?
Hell, why can't we use it as the Lunar Gateway?
Hell this is spaceX, why don't they just land the thing on the moon in tact?
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