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Martianspirit t1_jcaiski wrote

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

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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