NASA has recently announced that they have chosen SpaceX to develop a spacecraft that will deorbit the International Space Station by 2030. This contract is valued at a massive $843 million. The ISS is approaching the end of its operational life, and with new plans for commercially-owned space stations on the horizon, it is necessary for the original station to be safely disposed of by the end of the decade.
The spacecraft, known as the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle, will be different from SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, which is used to deliver cargo and crew to the station. NASA will take ownership of this new vehicle post-development and will be responsible for operating it throughout its mission. The plan is for both the vehicle and the ISS to destructively break up as they reenter the atmosphere. SpaceX’s main task will be to ensure that the station reenters in a way that poses no danger to populated areas.
The details of the launch contract for the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle will be announced separately. Initially, NASA and its partners were considering using a Russian Roscosmos Progress spacecraft for the deorbit mission. However, further studies indicated that a new spacecraft was necessary for the task at hand. The responsibility for the safe disposal of the station is shared by the five space agencies that operate on the ISS – NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, European Space Agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and State Space Corporation Roscosmos.
It is currently unclear whether the $843 million contract amount is being covered by all participating countries. TechCrunch has reached out to NASA for more information on this matter and will provide updates as they become available.
