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julia_fns t1_jc7eabj wrote

Reply to comment by Ratstail91 in NASA wants new 'deorbit tug' to bring space station down in 2030 by DevilsRefugee

The station loses altitude constantly (but slowly) due to atmospheric drag, it won’t stay there if it’s abandoned.

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SwerdnaJack t1_jc7fhcd wrote

We could put it into a parking orbit though. I’ll start a go fund me.

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maxcorrice t1_jc7m1go wrote

It takes a lot of delta V to do it, definitely not impossible but best bet would be to keep a schedule similar to the current one but the boosts go for much longer to get it into a slightly higher orbit each time, it’ll cost less total but for longer and it’ll give us time to get better more efficient engines, or it could be used as a testbed for things like ion engines where they have low thrust but high efficiency

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Northwindlowlander t1_jc9282w wrote

Putting into a parking or graveyard orbit would be a ton of effort. But pruning it a bit to reduce drag once it's unmanned, and lifting it somewhat higher would be pretty easy. At this point, literally just a matter of cost.

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SwerdnaJack t1_jcarq0i wrote

That’s what the go fund me is for

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Northwindlowlander t1_jcavf3f wrote

What I was getting at is that parking/graveyard orbits aren't realyl practical, and people tend to react as if that makes any sort of preservation impossible, and that can obscure the fact that it doesn't need to be permanent, it just needs to be sustainable.

Anyone that knows that lifting it to a permanent orbit isn't practical, should also know what the alternatives are, but that doesn't seem to stop it... Tell you what, you book the Dragon, I'll get some jerrycans of rocket fuel

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Martianspirit t1_jcaiski wrote

I wonder what exactly is the plan. Just get it down enough that the atmosphere will do the rest of the braking?

I guess they will want a targeted deorbit, which means they need to brake with propulsion until it deorbits.

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Raspberry-Famous t1_jcbcasy wrote

The plan is to gradually put it into an elliptical orbit where the perigee is as low as it can go and then to do one big burn that will put it into a steep enough final descent that all of the debris will end up in more or less the same place.

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