SPACE STATION TO BE SUNK AFTER 2020
The large complex would pose a space debris risk if left in orbit after its life cycle.

Russia and its partners plan to plunge the International Space Station (ISS) into the ocean at the end of its life cycle after 2020 so as not to leave space junk, the space agency said on Wednesday.

"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," said deputy head of Roskosmos space agency Vitaly Davydov.
"Right now we've agreed with our partners that the station will be used until approximately 2020," he said in comments released on Wednesday.
A piece of space debris narrowly missed the space station last month in a rare incident that forced the six-member crew to scramble to their rescue craft.
The ISS, which orbits 220 miles above Earth, is a sophisticated platform for scientific experiments bringing together space agencies from Russia, the United States, Europe, Japan, and Canada.

Launched in 1998, the ISS was initially expected to remain in space for 15 years until an agreement was reached to keep it operating through 2020.
By going into a watery grave, the ISS will repeat the fate of its predecessor space station Mir which Russia sank in the Pacific Ocean in 2001 after 15 years of service.
Moscow this month proclaimed the beginning of "the era of the Soyuz" after the U.S. shuttle's last flight left the Russian system as the sole means for delivering astronauts to the ISS.
Russia is currently developing a new space ship to replace the Soyuz capsule which is single-use, except for the section in which spacemen return to Earth, said Davydov.
Tests of the ship will begin after 2015 and it will have "elements of multi-use whose level will be much higher than they are today," he said, adding that Russia will compete with the United States in building the new-generation ship.

"We'll race each other."

Davydov said it remains unclear what will come after the ISS and whether mankind will see the need for a replacement orbiting close to Earth.
"Lots of our tasks are still linked to circumterrestrial space," he said, while adding that a new space station could be used as a base for building complexes that will explore deeper into space.
"I cannot rule out that it will be used to put together, create the complexes that in the future will fly to the Moon and Mars," he said, stressing that "a serious exploration" could not be done without manned flights.

"Lots of our tasks are still linked to circumterrestrial space," he said, while adding that a new space station could be used as a base for building complexes that will explore deeper into space.
"I cannot rule out that it will be used to put together, create the complexes that in the future will fly to the Moon and Mars," he said, stressing that "a serious exploration" could not be done without manned flights.

All of that modular hardware already there in space could easily be used on future projects, if it is to be abandoned then at least use it as a donor vehicle.

Maybe so, but space (even NEO) is a horribly harsh environment. You've got radiation, high speed particulate abrasion, simple fatigue of being a pressure vessel... Wear & tear is an entirely different kettle of fish in space, especially when pretty much any failure could be fatal. By the time 2020 rolls around some of the bits will have been up there for over 20 years. I suspect it's possible that they could be re-used but they'd need very detailed examination first. Which isn't easy to do in a vacuum. And where do the people live who are doing the inspection? Oh yeah, you'd have to build another space station for them....

Regardless of what Hollywood might tell you, you can't keep a space station going by getting a Russian bloke to hit bits of it with a spanner.

It's a risk/benefit analysis, at the end of the day. The risk of using something which has been in space for 20 years apparently outweighs the benefit of doing so. Me, I think it would be good if the modules could be reclaimed and brought back to earth to be recycled (and even examples of them maybe kept in a museum) rather than just dumped in the sea but I'm under no illusion it could be used forever.

Jon

I am coming to the painful realisation that Space 1999 was just one big fat lie. Curse you, Anderson!