Jump to content

Welcome to the Sustainable Space Community

This community is dedicated to sharing sustainable space insights and supporting standards development by facilitating industry engagement, discussion and promoting the exchange of best practice.

  • Scientists concerned about ISS ocean impact


    Emma King
    • General space news

    Concerns raised by marine environment specialists and environmental watchdog groups over end-of-life plans for the International Space Station (ISS) have been reported by Space News

    The ISS is due to be de-orbited in 2031, with the $843 million contract for doing so awarded by Nasa to SpaceX.  

    The 400 tons of space hardware, which is already suffering from cracks and air leaks after decades in orbit, is not expected to entirely burn up during re-entry.  The remains will join predecessors such as Mir and several of the Salyut space stations at the "spacecraft cemetary" Point Nemo, the farthest point from land in the middle of the Pacific ocean.

    This has caused concern amongst the scientific community, with one expert likening the plan to the dumping of unused ammunition from World War II in the oceans, while another compared it to the dumping of dumping single-use plastics in the marine environment. 

    The disposal plan is being evaluated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  

     

    Featured Image: International Space Station
    Image Credit: Nasa

     


    User Feedback

    Recommended Comments

    There are no comments to display.



    Create an account or sign in to comment

    You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

    Create an account

    Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

    Register a new account

    Sign in

    Already have an account? Sign in here.

    Sign In Now

  • Interested in joining a committee?

    The ACE/68 Space Systems and Operations committee is the UK’s leading committee for space standards. By joining, you’ll contribute to shaping the future of space standards and provide UK input into key international and European committees, including:

     
    Find out more
×
×
  • Create New...