The iss decomissioning

[Pingonaut]

This is big news and I didn't know about it until now, I'm really falling out of touch.

[Titan Space Agency]

Before the ISS is deorbited the rushens are going to take some of their parts to make a new space station.

[Skyrunner27]

The only current problem with the Americans and space travel is that no one thinks about it. If I went up to some random person in the street and told them there is a probe on the way to Pluto they would like.y be surprised. Not to mention don't dare try to tell an American about Ceres and Eris. NASA is doing things but the general public is not is informed about projects such as the Orion space capsule and the Space Launch System. They just like to live in the moment and only defend space flight when we stop sending men into orbit by ourselves. The future of spaceflight will be a commercial LEO and an international Earth and beyond. You can see it already with projects such as the ISS, Cassini-Huygens, the upcoming Jupiter system mission, and the ATV will be the service stage for Orion. I here people talk about Commercial space flight further than LEO or GEO but I can't see a company landing on the moon or further without having a contract from any of the government contract for the next 10 years.

[Tw1]

I like the ISS. I like to watch it pass overhead in the evenings. It will be a pity when it comes time to decommission it.

[Seret]

Personaly I hope that we are going to get some private space stations (boeing, space x, etc) as wel as a new moon program.

There won't be private space stations unless someone can make money from one. The expense of lifting tourists to LEO would seem to limit the market rather drastically (there's a reason Virgin Galactic is sub-orbital), and unless industry comes up with a process that requires large amounts of material manufactured in microgravity there doesn't seem to be enough demand for it.

The Chinese will probably build a station, just to annoy the Americans. Can't see anybody else falling over themselves to spend that kind of money, but I hope I'm wrong.

[running]

On the subject of the ISS not being populair like for instance the apollo program...

I took my kids to visit the Kennedy Space Centre last year.

We visited the VAB and the Atlantis shuttle that was parked there, the launche sites etc.

They seemed to not care that much except for some odd little facts that I mannaged to throw in..... untill they got to see the 3d movie about the ISS. to them that was a big deal. Why, because this relates to what they have seen on the news. The dutch astrounaut that has visited the ISS twice who they know from the news was also in the movie.

So maybe, it's age that determines for a large part populairity.

As for the Chinese space station, there might be propaganda and national pride involved but that is true for all other space projects.

The possible things we learn from building such a structure and the science that takes place there could result in innovation for products we use in everyday life. In the end that results in profits for companies/countries producing these products.

[SargeRho]

I wonder if it wouldn't be possible to push the ISS into a higher orbit to conserve it?

[NGTOne]

I wonder if it wouldn't be possible to push the ISS into a higher orbit to conserve it?

Well, they're installing a VASIMR electric engine on it in the next couple of years, so possibly.

[Nibb31]

Not possible. Without active attitude control, the station would tumble out if control and eventually break up.

[SargeRho]

So, lock the longerons in place, mount temporary RCS thrusters on them - if the ISS doesn't already have them - and slowly start boosting the orbit.

[hugix]

I wonder if it wouldn't be possible to push the ISS into a higher orbit to conserve it?

Why would we want to do that? It'll only increase the risk of Kessler syndrome.

[SargeRho]

Because it's one of our more important spacecraft. It feels...wrong to just let it burn up.

[Winter Man]

Bung it round the Moon. If there's enough fuel left, land the bugger.

[hugix]

Because it's one of our more important spacecraft. It feels...wrong to just let it burn up.

It would be disastrous if the ISS collided with anything and would leave a smear of debris in space.

Besides it is inherent to space travel that a ship gets destroyed after it's mission. Or at least isn't reusable.

[Nibb31]

Because it's one of our more important spacecraft. It feels...wrong to just let it burn up.

Once you've powered it down, it's dead. After a few years without maintenance, it will start leaking and venting. With no attitude control, it will start tumbling. The combination of gravitational forces, drag, and venting will put the connections under stress until cracks start appearing. After that, it will break into a couple pieces and become a hazard.

You wouldn't be preserving it, you would be abandoning it to become a wreck.

[vetrox]

Unfortuntaley i dont think the majority of the general public really care about anything that goes on above us any more.

Its more of the same that has been in the world of science since the beginning. You cant get the funding for something thats just out there hoping to find something of scientific merit.

No president in his right mind would adress U.S citizens and say "We're funding a new space station to do further research in space" because critics would argue that its not researching for a specific goal. It would just be sitting up there doing sceince stuff until something lifechanging happens.

BAH! I dont explain it very well (i'm not sure but there might even be a name for it) but would you rather spend your taxes on A:A space station studying space or B:A Large facility that is working on a cure for stupid? (obv a hypothetical situation) I'm bias in this matter but most people in power would rather put their peoples money into a specific branch of research than something as broad as "Studying the effects of zero g on various experiments"

...I still dont explain it very well. Dont worry I'm off to go kill off the last brain cells with some much needed antifreeze!

EDIT: Just remembered. I think its called blue sky research or something like that. Professor Brian Cox explained it in one of his many documentaries

[Motokid600]

I strongly believe that the solution to the worlds financial problems is not on this planet.

[lajoswinkler]

Why exactly do we need to decomission ISS? What's inside that's going bad and can not be mended or replaced?

[razark]

Why exactly do we need to decomission ISS? What's inside that's going bad and can not be mended or replaced?

Because it costs money to maintain. If we're spending that money on an outdated station, we can't spend that money on the brand new <insert politically popular project here>.

[Kryten]

Why exactly do we need to decomission ISS? What's inside that's going bad and can not be mended or replaced?

Pretty much everything. There's not going to be single part that doesn't have a limited lifespan, and there's effectively no way now to replace e.g. a solar panel that dies.

[lajoswinkler]

I guess the seals will eventually start failing. They're probably made of some kind of polymer.

Why couldn't they simply detach old modules and attach new ones? Just like an organism does. It is still there, but its constituents are constantly changing.

It seems that a completely new station is a lot of work to do, compared to this, but I'm obviously not an expert...

[Kryten]

It'd require a lot of work for USOS modules, as the massive amounts of power and data cabling between the modules would have to be reconfigured. The russians have less of an issue because their modules were all designed to form all necessary linkages without human input, necessiting fewer, simpler connections. New USOS modules would also require the kind of uncrewed rendezvous-and-docking tech the russians have, due to the shuttle retirement, which'd involve a good chunk of R and D. And, of course, there's probably the largest issue; space station modules cost a lot of money.

[rewdew2]

Good luck on finding anything much bigger than a pinhead. That's a several ton spacecraft coming down at reentry velocity into water. Unlike in Minecraft, falling into water from high up hurts like you just slammed into concrete.

Actually mythbusters tested that myth, it's busted....

[Piwa]

The only current problem with the Americans and space travel is that no one thinks about it. If I went up to some random person in the street and told them there is a probe on the way to Pluto they would like.y be surprised. Not to mention don't dare try to tell an American about Ceres and Eris. NASA is doing things but the general public is not is informed about projects such as the Orion space capsule and the Space Launch System. They just like to live in the moment and only defend space flight when we stop sending men into orbit by ourselves. The future of spaceflight will be a commercial LEO and an international Earth and beyond. You can see it already with projects such as the ISS, Cassini-Huygens, the upcoming Jupiter system mission, and the ATV will be the service stage for Orion. I here people talk about Commercial space flight further than LEO or GEO but I can't see a company landing on the moon or further without having a contract from any of the government contract for the next 10 years.

Best post of all time that I'm on the forum.

[Nibb31]

I guess the seals will eventually start failing. They're probably made of some kind of polymer.

Why couldn't they simply detach old modules and attach new ones? Just like an organism does. It is still there, but its constituents are constantly changing.

It seems that a completely new station is a lot of work to do, compared to this, but I'm obviously not an expert...

You can't swap Unity, Zarya, Zvezda (which are the oldest components of the station and the first ones likely to fail) or any of the truss elements without taking the whole ISS offline. And without the Shuttle, there is no way to bring up replacements for the solar arrays for example. It's not a Lego set. After years of construction, it's now a fully integrated system with power and data cabling, hydraulics and coolant loops, as well as all the mechanical connections. Just monitoring the vibration harmonics to prevent the station from shaking itself apart is a huge job. If you disconnect some of the core components, you lose power, thermal and attitude control and the whole thing falls apart.

We just have to accept that like all things, the ISS will reach the end of its useful life. Zarya today has spent more time in space than Mir had when it was deorbited. When it gets too old to maintain, it has to be properly decommissioned. Just like a ship on Earth, you don't just leave it at sea to become a wreck. You either break it up properly (which is not practical in this case) or sink it so that it doesn't become a hazard.

Edited October 8, 2013 by Nibb31