NASA has selected SpaceX to develop a vehicle that will bring the International Space Station to a fiery end when the time comes.
The space agency first asked U.S. aerospace companies for proposals in March 2023 and then again in September of that year. The request was for a “space tug” vehicle that could help deorbit the U.S. sections of the International Space Station (ISS) safely.
On Wednesday (June 26), the agency issued a statement announcing that SpaceX has been selected to develop and deliver the “U.S. Deorbit Vehicle” as it’s known. The contract is worth up to $843 million; that total does not include any launch costs, however, and is for the vehicle development only. The vehicle will be responsible for disposing of the space station “in a controlled manner after the end of its operational life in 2030,” the statement adds.
Question: why deorbit vs push out of orbit away from earth?
To paraphrase an answer I read elsewhere: de-orbiting would be like pushing it down from the first step of a long flight of stairs. Pushing it away from Earth would require ascending the long flight of stairs, which is much harder.
So the space dolphins can live without the fear of being hit by a big metal thing.
But actually because it would probably require less Δv