According to the recent news, NASA researchers have revealed, THE International Space Station (ISS) is to be demolished and sent crashing towards the Earth in a “huge fireworks display”. Finance for the project is due to run out and the plans have been exposed by Ellen Stofan, NASA’s ex- chief scientist.
She said: “The future of the ISS is a big problem for NASA. The funding is there till 2024 but then it must start moving money to human Mars missions.
If we keep it fully funded after 2024 it will concession the Mars budget and by 2028 it will start failing. It is huge, the size of a football pitch, and so the overall plan is to drop it into the Pacific.”
It is expected that the fuel tanks and massive units would cause a series of fireballs as they detonate and hit in the atmosphere.
A more modern and up-to-date space station could switch the current one and act as a “transfer station” for missions to Mars, according to reports.
Ms Stofan added: “To get to Mars we would need a transfer station. That means launching the components for a Mars space ship and assembling them in an orbit around the moon.”
David Parker, director of robotic exploration and human spaceflight at the ESA (European Space Agency) pointed out the £300million a year cost of the International Space Station.
He said: “Our plan is to free up this money from the mid-2020s to explore beyond low earth orbit that will finally mean de-orbiting the ISS. The south Pacific is the target and it will be a enormous fireworks display.”