NEW DELHI — SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Friday again recommended deorbiting the
International Space Station within the next two years, much ahead of the
planned deorbit in 2031.
NASA plans to deorbit the ISS in 2031, with the deorbit
vehicle expected to be ready by 2028.
The ISS, a joint project involving NASA, the Canadian
Space Agency, the European Space Agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency, and Roscosmos, has been operational since 1998.
It has continuously hosted astronaut crews since November
2000, supporting research for future deep-space missions.
Musk raised serious concerns about the safety of the ISS
and the astronauts on board.
“There are potentially serious concerns about the
long-term safety of the Space Station. Some parts of it are simply getting too
old and obviously that risk grows over time,” Musk shared in a post on the
social media platform X.
“Even though SpaceX earns billions of dollars from
transporting astronauts and cargo to the ISS, I nonetheless would like to go on
record recommending that it be de-orbited within 2 years,” he added.
Musk stated this in reply to Physicist Casey Handmer, a
former NASA JPL software system architect, who highlighted "multiple, and
increasingly frequent, leaks” on the ISS.
“The ISS's structural integrity is far more marginal than
is being publicly discussed. Multiple cracks have been discovered. There is no
"factor of safety" associated with this failure mode. None of the
structural pressure vessels are meant to crack. We are not even single fault
tolerant on the structural integrity of the station. We could wake up tomorrow
and find, with zero warning, that it has failed catastrophically,” Handmer
said.
“Whether that means a leak slow enough to close some
hatches, get the crew out or at least into safer parts of the station, is a
roll of the dice. It could also depressurise in less than a minute,” he added.
Meanwhile, NASA in June 2024 awarded an $843 million
contract to SpaceX to develop the US Deorbit Vehicle (USDV).
The vehicle, based on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, will
dock with the ISS and guide it to a controlled deorbit over the South Pacific
to minimise risks.
Musk has long been promoting Mars as the next goal for
human spaceflight.
In a post in February on X, Musk said that the ISS
"has served its purpose. There is very little incremental utility".
He added, "Let’s go to Mars."
