The International Space Station will crash on Earth “soon”, we know all the details

2023-05-27 09:00:00

The International Space Station will crash “soon” on Earth, we know all the details, an event scheduled for 2031-2032, at point nemo.

The international space station (ISS) has been in orbit around our planet since the year 2000. Today, more than two decades following its commissioning, the American space agency, NASA, and the other government agencies in charge of its support, announced his end of life. But where and when will the ISS end its long run ? With several hundred tons on the scale, it will be necessary to calculate the trajectory of the station well so as not to make it “explode” during its re-entry into the atmosphere, NASA indeed wanting to keep it in one piece as much as possible. .

The International Space Station will ‘soon’ crash into Earth, we know all the details

According to a recent statement from NASA, the ISS is expected to leave orbit in 2031. The operation will begin as early as 2026, with a slight modification to its orbit so that the station begins to slowly descend. Today, it is more than 400 kilometers from Earth. As it falls, it will approach the Karman line (100 kilometers away), the boundary between the upper atmosphere and space. In its fall, logically, the ISS will also lose its solar panels and other modules which will disintegrate in the atmosphere without causing damage to the ground. The bulk of the station will continue to orbit the Earth in a fall that should last for many weeks.

The great adventure of the ISS will be purchased at point nemo, a geographical point located off the coast of New Zealand. This is the furthest point from the mainland. To put things into perspective, know that when navigators pass by this place, they are closer to space and the satellites orbiting above their heads than New Zealanders or South Americans. Better still, in the case that interests us, the point nemo does not have a flourishing marine life, it is an area wedged between two powerful ocean currents, very inhospitable therefore. This has made it the “graveyard” of the space world for several decades.

An event scheduled for 2031-2032, at point nemo

The International Space Station will therefore end its life there in 2031 or 2032. At present, no recovery mission has been planned. The ISS should therefore sink into the abyss of the South Pacific Ocean, thousands of kilometers from Chile. Be careful though, with its 450 tons of steel falling from the sky, the intensity of the impact with the ocean might cause a huge wave. Some Polynesian archipelagos might be affected. And if its course were to deviate even ever so slightly, it might engulf one or more islands.

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