NASA and Elon Musk's company outlined the plan to burn the space station up on reentry and plunge what's left into the ocean, ideally at the beginning of 2031 when it hits the 32-year mark.
The space agency rejected other options, like taking the station apart and bringing everything home or handing the keys to someone else.
NASA gave SpaceX a $843 million contract to bring down the station - the biggest structure ever built off the planet.
Here's a rundown on the work and challenges ahead:
WHY GET RID OF THE SPACE STATION?
The space station is already is showing signs of age. Russia and the U.S. launched the first pieces in late 1998, and astronauts moved in two years later. Europe and Japan added their own segments, and Canada provided robotic arms. By the time NASA’s shuttles retired in 2011, the station had grown to the size of a football field, with a mass of nearly 1 million pounds (430,000 kilograms). NASA figures the station will last until at least 2030. The goal is for private companies to launch their own space stations by then, with NASA serving as one of many customers. That strategy — already in place for station cargo and crew deliveries — will free NASA up to focus on moon and Mars travel. NASA could decide to extend the station’s life, too, if no commercial outposts are up there yet. The aim is to have an overlap so scientific research is not interrupted.
WHY NOT BRING IT BACK TO EARTH?
Esta historia es de la edición July 27, 2024 de Techlife News.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición July 27, 2024 de Techlife News.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
AUSTRALIA PROPOSES LEGAL MINIMUM AGE FOR CHILDREN ACCESSING SOCIAL MEDIA
The Australian government this week promised to legislate this year to enforce a minimum age for children to access social media, but it has yet to announce how ages will be verified.
SWEDEN JOINS COUNTRIES SEEKING TO END SCREEN TIME FOR CHILDREN UNDER 2
Sweden says children under the age of 2 should not be exposed to any digital screens.
EU'S TOP COURT DISMISSES APPLE'S FINAL APPEAL AGAINST ORDER TO PAY IRELAND 13B EUROS IN BACK TAXES
Apple this week lost its last bid to avoid paying 13 billion euros ($14.34 billion) in back taxes to Ireland, in a finale to a dispute with the European Union that centered on sweetheart deals that Dublin was offering to attract multinational businesses with minimal taxes across the 27-nation bloc. The final decision by the EU’s top court was quickly hailed as a landmark victory over corporate greed.
GOOGLE AND APPLE LOSE THEIR COURT FIGHTS AGAINST THE EU AND OWE BILLIONS IN FINES AND TAXES
Google lost its last bid to overturn a European Union antitrust penalty, after the bloc's top court ruled against it Tuesday in a case that came with a whopping fine and helped jumpstart an era of intensifying scrutiny for Big Tech companies.
US POSTAL SERVICE SQUEEZE ON SHIPPING CONSOLIDATORS COULD RAISE CONSUMER COSTS
The U.S. Postal Service said this week that it is ending discounts that shipping consolidators such as UPS and DHL use to get packages to the nation’s doorsteps, in a move meant to help the Postal Service slow losses but that could see the higher costs passed on to consumers.
TELEGRAM CEO DEFENDS HIMSELF AGAINST FRENCH CHARGES IN FIRST PUBLIC COMMENTS
Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov promised to step up efforts to fight criminality on the messaging app, his first public comments since French authorities handed him preliminary charges for allegedly allowing the platform's use for criminal activity.
JAMES EARL JONES' DARTH VADER VOICE LIVES ON THROUGH AI.VOICE ACTORS SEE PROMISE AND PERIL IN THAT
Over the course of an acting career that spanned more than six decades, James Earl Jones' voice became an indelible piece of his work as a performer.
GOOGLE FACES A NEW ANTITRUST TRIAL AFTER RULING DECLARING SEARCH ENGINE A MONOPOLY
One month after a judge declared Google's search engine an illegal monopoly, the tech giant faces another antitrust lawsuit that threatens to break up the company, this time over its advertising technology.
A CAPSULE HAS BEEN PROPELLED THROUGH A HYPERLOOP TEST TUBE IN A STEP FORWARD FOR THE TRANSIT SYSTEM
Hyperloop, a new form of mass transit involving capsules whizzing on magnetic fields through depressurized tubes, has achieved significant liftoff in the northern Netherlands, a company developing the technology said Monday.
BATTERY-POWERED DEVICES ARE OVERHEATING MORE OFTEN ON PLANES AND RAISING ALARM
Devices powered by lithium-ion batteries are overheating more often during airline flights and passengers often put them in checked bags that go into the cargo hold, where a fire might not be detected as quickly.
