Retiring the ISS

The International Space Station (ISS) is now showing unacceptable signs of age and decay. Maintaining it is becoming increasingly costly. As a result, NASA and others are planning to retire it by 2030 or 2032 with a controlled de-orbit into the depths of Point Nemo at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

This is not just a stupid idea. It is also dangerous. It is an absolute no-brainer. Just because the ISS is retiring does not mean it is a worthless piece of junk to just throw away. Nearly all of its parts have considerable value. Some could be added to other spacecraft, where we could save the considerable cost of sending new parts into orbit. Others could be brought back to Earth as collectable relics. Empty SpaceX Starships that have delivered their payloads into orbit could also have payloads on their return trips. Even unwanted leftovers can be sold at auctions on eBay. Every last tidbit will find a collector somewhere.

The ISS is composed of segments provided by several nations, including Russia, the United States, China, and Canada. Some of these, especially Russia (who donated the first and largest component) want to hold onto their property. Even though aged, all of these components are still very valuable for many other uses ranging from recycling into new components to valuable relics for museums. Also, at least some of the nations that contributed components want them back, either for projects of their own in orbit, or to be returned to the Earth as relics. Russia has specifically stated that it wants the original central core returned.

How would this be done? The ISS is composed of numerous parts that are bolted together. Just unbolt each part to be returned and hand it over. The individual nations will take them from there. They could hire SpaceX to ferry them into whatever orbits they want or load them into returning Starships.

The first step would be to dismantle the ISS, which should not be difficult--just unbolt its parts. Each country's components could be assembled together (with bolts or cables) and handed over.

Some of the American components might be saved for re-use. All remaining unusable parts could be loaded onto empty returningSpaceX starships. These could be given or sold to museums and private collectors worldwide who would love to have pieces of the ISS.

Bingo! Problem solved. No wasting billions of dollars to dump valuable artifacts into Point Nemo. No miscalculating a trajectory and having it land in the wrong place. No hard feelings with other nations for throwing away their property. Scientists will be able to study the long-term exposure of the parts to the hazards of space travel. Leftovers the museums don't want will all sell to somebody. Who would NOT love to have a piece of the ISS and would pay a handsome price for it?

Do we really have to blow billions of dollars to just throw away more billions of dollars worth of valuable space hardware in a Point Nemo disposal? Don’t we have any people with enough common sense to come up with practical ideas?

SOURCE

Could SpaceX's Starship bring ISS modules back to Earth intact?

https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceXStarship/comments/uo0ygf/could_spacexs_starship_bring_iss_modules_back_to/

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