to deorbit the station "not optional," fearing human casualties on the ground should it make an uncontrolled re-entry into the atmosphere.
"The day will inevitably come when the Station is at the end of its life — and we may not be able to dictate that day — it is inconceivable to allow the Station to deorbit in an uncontrolled manner," said ASAP Chair Patricia Sanders at the briefing, " is simply too massive and would pose extreme hazard to populations over a broad area of Earth," she added. "This needs to be resourced and resourced now if we are to avert a catastrophe."of the ISS poses a bigger risk and demands greater precision. At 358 feet from end to end, it's easily large enough to crush an entire stadium, that is, if it were to make it through the atmosphere in one piece.
NASA has said that it wants to retire the ISS by 2030, and its plan to accomplish that is using a space tug that will nudge the station into the atmosphere, where it will begin to burn up during re-entry and fall over a remote part of the ocean called To "initiate developing" the tug, NASA said it's allocated around $180 million. Actually building it, however, could cost up to an eye-watering $1 billion.