Deorbiting the ISS would be a terrible, irreversible mistake for...
Christian Keil@pronounced_kyle
7 views
Feb 21, 2025
~1 min read
Advertisement
1
Deorbiting the ISS would be a terrible, irreversible mistake for humanity.
We should decommission it ASAP, then boost it up into MEO so it orbits forever as a monument of the Space Exploration Age.
We should decommission it ASAP, then boost it up into MEO so it orbits forever as a monument of the Space Exploration Age.
2
You don't have to get it very high to get out of the way of space debris — a circular orbit of ~4000 km should be fine.
(That makes it roughly the same as where it is now, at 420km altitude)
(That makes it roughly the same as where it is now, at 420km altitude)
3
And at 4000km, it would stay up there forever.
Like... actually forever, or at least until the sun explodes.
Like... actually forever, or at least until the sun explodes.
4
I got nerd-sniped by this — it would only take about 1.45 km/s of delta-V to execute a Hohmann transfer from its current orbit to the target Museum Orbit.
That's not a lot — just ~300 metric tons of fuel using Starship.
(The ISS is large, but not massive.)
That's not a lot — just ~300 metric tons of fuel using Starship.
(The ISS is large, but not massive.)