What Will Replace The International Space Station?

NASA is planning to decommission the International Space Station by the end of 2030. The ISS, which began operations in 2000, is reaching the end of its lifespan and has become costly to maintain. NASA selected SpaceX to construct a vehicle that would “de-orbit” the football field-sized station, pushing it down into the atmosphere where it’ll burn up safely over the Pacific ocean.

So what comes next? So far, NASA has awarded contracts to private companies including Axiom Space, Blue Origin, Northrup Grumman, and Starlab to support the research and development for commercial space stations which would help facilitate future research in orbit, among their own space tourism offerings. Next year, NASA will certify one or more of these companies to build at least one space station, where it’ll then become one of many customers to purchase services from the new facilities.

Loren Grush, space reporter at Bloomberg News, joins Host Ira Flatow to discuss who’s in the running and how future space stations could differ from the one we know today. She also talks about her recent trip to the headquarters of Vast, one of the companies competing for this contract, to learn more about its cryptocurrency origins and its high-level recruitments from NASA and Apple.

Further Reading

• Read Grush’s article about Vast, “One Man’s Crypto Windfall Is Funding a $1 Billion Space Station Dream,” via Bloomberg News.
• Read about NASA’s plans for commercial space stations via their website.
• Watch SciFri’s NASA Downlink event with astronauts on the ISS.
• Check out our educational resource Mission Tech Force: Robots For A Sustainable Future, which talks about the commercial applications of robotics from the ISS, such as robotic arms that help build solar panels, plant trees, and maintain wind turbines.

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