Submitted by ye_olde_astronaut t3_11ymmgc in space
Riptide360 t1_jdajrhs wrote
Reply to comment by seanflyon in Industry sees missed opportunity in deorbiting ISS by ye_olde_astronaut
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
>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.
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