seanflyon t1_jd8z46u wrote on March 22, 2023 at 6:10 PM

Reply to comment by Riptide360 in Industry sees missed opportunity in deorbiting ISS by ye_olde_astronaut

> cheap

Maintaining the ISS is not cheap.

Riptide360 t1_jd90xfz wrote on March 22, 2023 at 6:21 PM

Nope. Space travel is like funding trips to the new world. One day Musk’s Tesla Starman in space will be as famous as Plymouth rock. https://spacein3d.com/where-is-starman-live-tracker/

seanflyon t1_jd927ww wrote on March 22, 2023 at 6:29 PM

"Nope" what? Do you honestly think that maintaining the ISS is cheap? Did you get confused and reply to the wrong comment, or do you simply have no idea what you are talking about?

[deleted] t1_jd9477t wrote on March 22, 2023 at 6:42 PM

[deleted]

Riptide360 t1_jd95djg wrote on March 22, 2023 at 6:49 PM

Save the hate. I just thought we could have a discussion about saving some space history by moving the station into higher orbit. No shortage of debris in space so I'm glad they are at least being responsible about the millions it will cost to deorbit ISS.

seanflyon t1_jdagkhy wrote on March 23, 2023 at 12:02 AM

It seems like you are not particularly interested in a discussion that involves dealing with reality.

Riptide360 t1_jdaljtf wrote on March 23, 2023 at 12:37 AM

Remember how many decades it took us to build a replacement for Skylab?

Remember how many decades it took us to build a replacement for the Space Shuttle?

The discussion on saving the ISS as a resource is useful. Lets hope most of it can be saved or it'll be decades more.

Feel free to stop participating if you don't have anything meaningful to add.

Riptide360 t1_jdajrhs wrote on March 23, 2023 at 12:25 AM

Maintaining ISS runs about $3 billion a year. Getting that much gear up there cost $150 billion. The tug boat NASA is building for $80 million could just as easily push up as it does down. NASA wants chunks of it brought down like we did with SkyLab, albeit a little bit more controlled this time, but a hell of a lot larger.

zx7 t1_jdbbdhe wrote on March 23, 2023 at 3:58 AM

>The tug boat NASA is building for $80 million could just as easily push up as it does down.

"Just as easily." It's much easier to deorbit something. Just decelerate it enough so that it's orbit intersects with the atmosphere. You can't just "push up" and expect the ISS to maintain a nice, circular orbit around the Earth.