The International Space Station is, as the name implies, an international project. One of the most important and monumental international projects in history, the result of the collaboration of multiple countries. Now an entrepreneur wants to accelerate his end.
In an ideal world, entrepreneurs could not undo what several countries have built. Much less if the reason is accelerate the conquest of Marsfor which the new rocket of said entrepreneur will be needed. But this is not any businessman. He is the richest in the world and has enough political power and influence to take us seriously.
Elon Musk’s last idea. “It’s time to start preparations for exorbiting the international space station,” Elon Musk wrote in his X profile during Thursday afternoon. “It has fulfilled its purpose. Its incremental utility is very small. Let’s go to Mars.”
When exactly? “The decision depends on the president, but my recommendation is to be done as soon as possible,” The businessman said. “I recommend doing it in two years.” That is, in 2027, two years before the date agreed by the ISS partners.
An accelerated ending. At 25, the International Space Station shows signs of aging. Investments in maintenance have been increasing. Structural fatigue begins to be a concern. The risk of impact with space garbage does not stop growing.
The plan agreed by the ISS partners was to keep the operating station until 2030 and then tow it with a special ship to a safe place (presumably the Pacific Ocean) for its atmospheric reentry. NASA asked Spacex to develop this vehicle by 2030.
By then, hopefully, there will be Commercial Space Stations In the low terrestrial orbit. But by 2027, the year proposed by Musk, the continuous presence of Americans in space would probably be interrupted. The space would continue inhabited, yes, By Chinese astronauts.
Can Trump retire the ISS a long time? That is the big question. The International Space Station involves five space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), the European Space Agency (Europe), Jaxa (Japan) and CSA (Canada).
Canada operates the Canadarm robotic arm, Europe the robotic arm was and the Columbus laboratory … but in broad strokes, the ISS consists of two main segments that are from the United States and Russia. In the same way that Russia was threatening to decoup down her and leave before 2030, Donald Trump could propose the same.
It is hard to imagine a scenario in which the European, Japanese and Canadian partners of NASA agreed with this abrupt ending. What would happen, for example, with European astronauts who were going to fly to ISS before 2030, Like the Spanish Pablo Álvarez? But it is not impossible to occur.
“You are delayed.” Musk’s statements, yes, could have been hot written. He published them just a few hours after exploding against the former commander of the International Space Station Andreas Mogensenwho had called him a liar for statements in Fox News.
Musk and Trump have been circulating the narrative that Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were abandoned by former president Biden in space after the Fiasco of the Boeing Starliner ship. Actually, NASA ordered a return plan for both during the Biden administration: to reserve two empty seats on the CREW-9 mission, which will return to Earth at the end of March (an exclusive ship for them would have cost dozens of millions).
When Mogensen pointed out this in his X profile, Musk replied: “You are a complete mental retardation. Spacex could have brought them back several months ago. I offered this directly to the Biden administration and refused. His return was delayed for political reasons. Stupid.”
Image | Elon Musk, Nasa
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