Space station to drop into ocean in 2020

NEWS

Russia and its partners plan to let the International Space Station fall into the ocean when it reaches the end of its lifecycle in 2020, according to a new report.

The International Space Station will be pulled out of its orbit and allowed to fall into the sea when it ends its lifespan in 2020. Photo credit: Nasa

Agence France-Presse reports that the Russian space agency's reason is simple: left alone, the ISS poses great risk as an enormous bundle of space junk.

Read this

Space station marks 10 years in service

Read more

"After it completes its existence, we will be forced to sink the ISS. It cannot be left in orbit, it's too complex, too heavy an object, it can leave behind lots of rubbish," deputy head of Roskosmos space agency Vitaly Davydov reportedly said.

The ISS, home to scientific experiments since its launch in 1998, orbits 220 miles above Earth's surface and hosts researchers hailing from Russia, the US, Europe, Japan and Canada. It was originally planned to operate through 2013, but its service was officially extended last year through 2020.

However, it is still unclear whether a final decision has been made to junk the space station. CBS News space analyst William Harwood noted that the ISS would need more funding if it goes beyond its 2020 end date. It is unclear whether the partner nations are of a mind to invest more money, given shrinking budgets and other pressing domestic priorities.

But whenever funding runs out, they will, in fact, crash it into the atmosphere so the debris falls in the Pacific, well away from populated areas. That is standard procedure for something like this, according to Harwood.

"They can't just leave it up on its own; everything in low Earth orbit will eventually fall back to Earth," Harwood noted. "With something as large as the station, they'll do a targeted re-entry to make sure it doesn't rain down on, say, New York."

With something as large as the station, they'll do a targeted re-entry to make sure it doesn't rain down on, say, New York.

– William Harwood, space analyst

Whenever its final plunge arrives, the ISS will follow in the footsteps of its predecessor, Russia's Mir, which was sunk into the Pacific Ocean in 2001.

At one point in its history, the ISS was talked about as a possible staging base for future missions to the Moon and Mars. But those plans fell by the wayside as the US shifted its plans for space exploration toward the use of unmanned probes. Last week, Nasa marked the return of its final space shuttle Atlantis from a trip to the ISS.

With one of its main customers calling it quits, the concept of an orbiting space station — not to mention the concomitant expense to maintain the base — has lost much of its allure. The news about the future of the space station comes on the heels of China's announcement that it isreadying its first space station module for launch.

CBS staff contributed to this story.

For more on this ZDNet UK-selected story, see International Space Station to fall into ocean in 2020 on SmartPlanet.