 "SpaceX Dragon spaceship")
US space agency Nasa has announced that SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will push the International Space Station on course toward its final descent. (Photo: X@SpaceX)
An era in space exploration will conclude when the International Space Station (ISS) is anticipated to be decommissioned in the early 2030s. Considered the epitome of international cooperation in space, the ISS will be succeeded by a next-generation Dragon spacecraft, developed by Elon Musk-owned SpaceX.
US space agency Nasa has already announced that it would pay Elon Musk’s company SpaceX up to $843 million to help decommission the ISS. On Wednesday (17 July), Nasa and SpaceX shared that the Dragon spacecraft will be “powerful enough to pull the ISS out of orbit into a fiery plummet to a remote ocean grave, probably in 2031.”
How will the Dragon spacecraft replace the ISS?
The Dragon spacecraft will push the ISS on course toward its final descent. While Nasa has not chosen a precise location yet, it said that the ISS will be pushed into a remote part of the South Pacific Ocean. However, the US space agency has clarified that when the football field-sized spacecraft comes screaming down, there will be no risk of it hitting anywhere but the open ocean.
After the ISS is decommissioned, Nasa and its Russian counterpart, Roscosmos, will go their separate ways and transition to new space stations. Once it is decommissioned, Nasa intends to transition into smaller, privately-owned space stations closer to the Earth’s surface. This will be a significant shift from the present, as the ISS, launched in 1998, is jointly maintained in low Earth orbit by five space agencies – Nasa (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada).
How will SpaceX make its dragon spacecraft ‘superpowered’?
According to SpaceX, it will attach a new high-powered trunk to its existing Cargo Dragon. Subsequently, it will supercharge the vehicle with 46 Draco engines, which is 30 more engines than a regular Dragon spacecraft.
With six times as much propellant to produce four times the power, SpaceX hopes its Dragon spacecraft will be about twice as long as a regular Dragon ship. This ‘deorbit vehicle’ will have the capability to deorbit the ISS and ensure the avoidance of risk to populated areas. Notably, the ISS is maintained 250 miles above Earth’s surface.
The current Dragon spacecraft is capable of carrying up to seven passengers to and from Earth orbit and beyond. According to the SpaceX website, it is the only spacecraft currently flying that is capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth.
“In 2012, Cargo Dragon became the first commercial vehicle to dock with the ISS and, if all goes according to plan, the new Dragon spacecraft will be the last vehicle to ever dock with the station,” said Sarah Walker, SpaceX’s director of Dragon mission management, in the press briefing.
First Published: Jul 18 2024 | 1:54 PM IST
