NASA scientists have determined how much it will cost to liquidate the ISS without Russia’s participation

NASA estimates that the safe end of the ISS operation will cost about $ 1 billion. According to the plan, the space base will be lowered into the Earth’s atmosphere, where it should safely burn up, and the remaining debris will fall into the Pacific Ocean. Interestingly, the cost of launching the ISS from its current orbit is so high because NASA is not going to use Russian space cargo ships for this purpose.

NASA’s new plan marks a complete cessation of cooperation with Russia on the ISS. The reason is the deterioration of relations between the United States and Russia due to the armed aggression against Ukraine. According to Maya Cross, a researcher at Northeastern University, USA, the ISS is an example of the largest international cooperation in human history.

NASA spoke about two ways to de-orbitalize the ISS and lower it into the Earth’s atmosphere. You can simply make the station fall down uncontrollably, or you can use a special spacecraft for a controlled descent that will direct the ISS in the right direction. If the first method is followed, there is a threat that the station’s debris, which will not burn up in the atmosphere, will fall on densely populated cities.

According to George Nield, head of Commercial Space Technologies, such an uncontrolled descent could lead to deaths and severe injuries, as well as numerous infrastructure damages.

If NASA does not use the Russian Progress space cargo ships to launch the ISS, the Americans will have to build another powerful spacecraft to help the station descend and accompany the ISS during its liquidation.

According to Nield, even if NASA decided to use Russian ships, it would still make it difficult to dispose of the station. Nevertheless, given the deterioration of US-Russian relations, this option is not being considered.

In any case, experts are confident that the ISS will explode in the atmosphere after descent, and this will be the end of the famous space project, in which many countries participated.