An ageing space station is facing serious safety concerns after a quarter-of-a-century in orbit. A recent terrifying gas leak even forced the crew on board the International Space Station (ISS) to prepare for an emergency evacuation before the hole was patched.
NASA's $1 Billion Plan to Destroy the ISS
Space experts have now revealed a step-by-step blueprint to destroy the massive $100 billion mega-structure. The giant laboratory is expected to begin its final "death spiral" towards Earth as early as 2028.
Leaving the 450,000kg space station to fall out of orbit naturally could trigger a global disaster. It would result in an uncontrolled re-entry, raining hundreds of lethal shards of hot metal down on civilian populations.
Target: Point Nemo, the Spaceship Graveyard
To prevent a catastrophe, NASA plans to guide the falling wreckage into a remote part of the Pacific Ocean. The designated target is Point Nemo, an isolated area known as the "Spaceship Graveyard" because it is the furthest place from human life.
Slowing down the massive station requires nine tonnes of fuel, which is far beyond its current capabilities. To solve this, NASA has given billionaire Elon Musk's company, SpaceX, a $1 billion contract to build a powerful cosmic "tugboat."
SpaceX's Ultimate Space Executioner
SpaceX will heavily modify a Crew Dragon capsule to pack six times the fuel of a standard vehicle. This ultimate space executioner will be used to safely push the station out of orbit.
The final crew will say goodbye and abandon the station in 2030, leaving it as an empty ghost ship. The SpaceX tug will then perform a complex series of engine burns over several days to send it plunging down.
Even if the plan goes perfectly, up to 100 tonnes of scorched metal will still survive the fiery atmospheric burn. However, space bosses insist the controlled crash is the only way to avoid a repeat of the 1979 Skylab disaster, which rained wreckage over Australia.
