International Space Station

[Kyng]

One thing I should mention about the ISS is, it's due to end its mission in 2030. And then, we'll have to de-orbit it safely somehow. So, NASA's currently asking for ideas on how to do this:

https://www.space.com/nasa-international...rbit-ideas

Let's hope people can come up with something good!

Even though we still have 6 years or so left, I still make a point to catch it anytime I can. I still get in awe of it. I just saw it again last night.

Nice .

It has been a while since I knowingly saw it, but I bet I've unknowingly seen it quite often !

[Uncrowned Guard]

They do have some plans in the works to replace it by 2023, but it is just too unsafe to keep it working.  Plus, a lot of lessons have been learned hopefully a new system mean better testing and experiments.

Indeed - it's set to be called 'Starlab'. The plan is that it'll be twice as wide as the ISS, but will only have half the volume:

https://phys.org/news/2023-08-airbus-par...e-iss.html

I'm not sure if that'll be enough in the long term, though... presumably, they'll want to include some provisions for extending it!

I did hear that the original plan was to have multiple space stations that were smaller at the same time, although a lot of the companies seem to have backed out.  This might be way the current plan is a smaller volume one.

[Kyng]

They do have some plans in the works to replace it by 2023, but it is just too unsafe to keep it working.  Plus, a lot of lessons have been learned hopefully a new system mean better testing and experiments.

Indeed - it's set to be called 'Starlab'. The plan is that it'll be twice as wide as the ISS, but will only have half the volume:

https://phys.org/news/2023-08-airbus-par...e-iss.html

I'm not sure if that'll be enough in the long term, though... presumably, they'll want to include some provisions for extending it!

I did hear that the original plan was to have multiple space stations that were smaller at the same time, although a lot of the companies seem to have backed out.  This might be way the current plan is a smaller volume one.

Yeah, that'd explain the reduction in size .

A pity the other companies backed out, but I guess a space station is a rather risky investment for anyone to make. Let's just hope the Starlab investors don't pull out too !