ISS Station Will Stop Operation In 2031, and Will Be Buried At Point Nemo

The ISS station will return to Earth and be buried at Point Nemo in 2031. (photo; doc. NASA)

JAKARTA - NASA has notified the US Congress of the latest plans to halt the operation of the International Space Station. These include plans to lower its orbit over an uninhabited region of the Pacific Ocean known as "Point Nemo".

News of the planned decommissioning comes from NASA's International Space Station Transition Report, which was submitted to Congress last month. The report outlines NASA's assessment of the International Space Station's (ISS) remaining useful life, particularly its role in transferring Low Earth Orbit (LEO) operations to private industry.

"The technical life of the ISS is limited by its main structure, which includes the module, radiator, and frame structure," the report said, as quoted by Techradar. "Other systems such as power, environmental control, life support, and communications, can all be repaired or replaced in orbit. The life of the main structure is affected by dynamic loading (such as vehicle docking/undocking) and orbital thermal cycles."

The fact that the ISS is still operational today is a testament to the techniques used to design and build it, but none have lasted forever. So the key right now is to figure out how to safely deactivate the ISS, so that the station doesn't pose a threat to anyone on Earth.

The plan, according to NASA, is that the ISS will slowly begin to propel its own orbit periodically over the next few years to gradually lower its operational altitude from its current altitude of about 254 miles/408 kilometers to about 210 miles/340 kilometers by mid-2030.

By then, its final crew would be doing the final work on the station, most likely clearing salvageable materials and equipment and carrying out a deceleration burn that would see its altitude drop very quickly to about 175 miles/280 kilometers, which NASA calls the "point of no return back" for the ISS.

“Finally, after performing maneuvers to set the final target land path and debris trail over the South Pacific Ocean Uninhabited Area, the area around Point Nemo, the ISS operators will fire re-entry the ISS, providing a final push to lower the ISS as much as possible and ensure entry. atmosphere safely," the report said.

The ISS will burn up on re-entry into Earth's atmosphere in a fairly spectacular fashion, but that doesn't mean that debris that reaches the surface is likely still there, so a remote region of the South Pacific was chosen as the final resting place for the remnants of the ISS after its deorbit. The last drop of the ISS is expected to occur in early January 2031.