Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

International Space Station
Credit: Roscosmos/NASA

Question: Where does an 800-pound gorilla sleep?” Answer: “Anywhere it wants to.”

But in the case of the International Space Station, with a mass of approximately 450 tons (450,000 kilograms), it needs to be precisely put to sleep in an unpopulated stretch of ocean.

NASA has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to solicit responses from interested parties to gauge industry’s capabilities to provide deorbit capabilities for the ISS.

Credit: NASA/JSC

According to the August 19th RFI, at the completion of ISS operations, currently planned through 2030, the ISS must be safely deorbited via a controlled reentry into an unpopulated region.  “It is the responsibility of all ISS partners to ensure the safe deorbit and reentry of the ISS at its end-of-life,” the document explains.

Per ISS International Partner agreement and request, NASA is issuing the RFI to assess industry’s capability to design, develop, manufacture, launch, and provide the on-orbit operation to enable a controlled re-entry and the safe deorbit the ISS.

An example deorbit target zone is the South Pacific Ocean(ic) uninhabited area.

Credit: NASA/JSC

Wanted: deorbit vehicle

Labeling it a “deorbit vehicle,” this hardware is to attach (via docking or berthing) to the ISS at least one year prior to the planned ISS reentry date to enable adequate time for on-orbit tests and checkouts. 

The deorbit vehicle is to perform the final reentry burn resulting in a controlled reentry of the ISS within a pre-defined, uninhabited entry corridor. 

Although nominal ISS end-of-life is late 2030, the Government requires that this deorbit capability be available as soon as possible “to protect for contingencies that could drive early re-entry and beyond 2030 in the event of further ISS mission extensions,” the RFI notes.

The RFI response date is September 9, 2022 at 3:00 pm Central Daylight Time.

To read the entire RFI — International Space Station Deorbit Capability – go to the System for Award Management (SAM.gov), an official website of the U.S. Government, at:

https://sam.gov/opp/74252cfe7d49416abae0977fe4fd503c/view#description

Go to this related story — Incoming – Wet, Watery and Worrisome Graves for Spacecraft — at:

https://www.leonarddavid.com/incoming-wet-watery-and-worrisome-graves-for-spacecraft/