NASA to retire International Space Station in January 2031, to fall in the Pacific Ocean

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has announced that the International Space Station (ISS) will cease its functioning by 2031. The Director of ISS, Robyn Gatens said in a press release that the International Space Station is entering its third and the most productive decade as a groundbreaking scientific platform in microgravity. At the end of the year 2030, the low-Earth orbit will see the last of the International Space Station as the floating laboratory will cease the operations and swoop down the Earth.

International Space Station: What is the significance?

1. The International Space Station has been hovering in the low Earth orbit for more than two decades, zooming across the periphery of the Earth at the speed of 8 km per second.

2. International Space Station is one of its kind laboratory that has helped human civilization research and achieves some cutting-edge scientific and technological developments.

3. The International Space Station also serves as the host to myriad scientific activities and experiments that contribute to the preparation of sending the first woman and first person of colour to space.

4. International Space Station also hosts the groundbreaking work by NASA of sending the first humans to Mars.

ISS to retire in Pacific Ocean

As per the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the operators of ISS in 2031 will direct the station to fall in the South Pacific Oceanic Uninhabited area which is commonly known as Point Nemo. Point Nemo in the Pacific Ocean is considered to be the remotest location on Earth.

With this, the International Space Station will no longer be a cosmic entity but will return to the ground, and all that is left behind will be its legacy.

What will happen after International Space Station retires?

NASA states in a press release that it is creating a space for the commercially-owned and operated low-Earth orbit destinations (CLDs). It will operate as an alternative to the International Space Station.

As per the Director of Commercial Space, NASA HQ, the private sector is technically and financially capable of developing and operating CLDs with NASA’s assistance.

About International Space Station

International Space Station was launched in 1998. It weighs 4,20,000 kg and is 74 m in length and 110 m wide equivalent to the size of a football field.

International Space Station is a multinational collaborative project which involved five participating space agencies: NASA (US), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada).

ISS serves as a microgravity and the space environment research laboratory in which scientific research is conducted in astronomy, astrobiology, physics, meteorology, and other fields.