International Space Station (ISS) partners are making progress, but are still waiting for a complete deorbit plan for the orbital outpost, to be used in the event of contingency event or during its eventual End Of Life (EOL) scenario. The plan is being led by Roscosmos, which is expected to call for at least two Progress vehicles to push the Station out of orbit for a controlled destructive re-entry.<\/p>\n
Although the effort is moving forward, NASA\u2019s safety advisory panel \u2013 a long time advocate of having an \u201cISS Deorbit Strategy and Contingency Action Plan\u201d in place \u2013 noted the finalizing of the evaluations are making progress, but are proceeding slower than desired.<\/p>\n
The ISS continues to be a jewel in humanity\u2019s space-faring crown and has many years of operational lifetime remaining. Currently, the expected lifetime will see it continue to be fully utilized by the ISS partners until around 2028, aided by additional commercial entities take advantage of its capabilities.<\/p>\n
However, it will \u2013 one day \u2013 come to the end of its life, be it via old age, when it suffers enough critical breakdowns that make it impossible to host humans, or via a major accident resulting in contingency plans being put into effect.<\/p>\n
The latter scenario is likely to be the main reason the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) members have been pressing NASA to come up with a plan that would see the Station safely deorbited \u2013 a challenge in itself as it will be the largest \u201cmanmade\u201d object to be sent to a destructive re-entry.<\/p>\n
The nearest comparison to this event was the controlled re-entry of the MIR space station in 2001.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n