SpaceX is developing a superpowered spaceship to help NASA decommission the International Space Station in the early 2030s. The plan involves using a modified Dragon spacecraft, upgraded specifically for this mission. The ISS has been operational for over 23 years, serving as a home and workplace for hundreds of astronauts.
However, its operational life is nearing its end. NASA and SpaceX revealed new details about their collaborative plan, which includes creating a more powerful Dragon spacecraft capable of safely deorbiting the ISS. SpaceX’s existing Dragon spacecraft currently transport astronauts and cargo to and from the ISS.
This new mission requires a more robust vessel due to the ISS’s massive weight of approximately 925,000 pounds. SpaceX plans to enhance a Cargo Dragon by fitting it with a new high-powered trunk and 46 Draco engines—30 more than the standard model. This “deorbit vehicle” will be about twice as long as a regular Dragon spacecraft, with six times as much propellant, enabling it to generate four times the power.
Sarah Walker, SpaceX’s director of Dragon mission management, emphasized the complexity of the mission. The key challenge will be executing the final burn required to set the ISS on a precise descent trajectory. This burn must be powerful enough to navigate the entire space station while countering the increasing atmospheric drag to ensure it lands in a designated remote ocean location, likely in the South Pacific.
NASA considered using three Russian Progress spacecraft for the deorbiting task, but even this fleet was insufficient for the ISS’s massive scale. However, NASA and Roscosmos plan to continue using the ISS until 2030, after which they will transition to new space stations.
Superpowered Dragon to deorbit station
NASA has ambitions to be among the many users of private space stations in the future. The process involves a newly commissioned reentry vehicle, which will push the ISS into Earth’s atmosphere after the orbiting complex “drifts down” from its standard orbit over a period of 12 to 18 months. Dana Weigel, ISS program manager, explained that the ISS crew will be kept onboard as long as possible to help maintain the station’s systems.
“Our plan is for [the astronauts] to leave about six months before the final reentry, as ISS reaches about 220 kilometers [136 miles],” Weigel stated in a recent briefing. NASA has selected SpaceX to develop the deorbit vehicle, awarding up to $843 million for its development, not including launch costs. This comes after NASA sought proposals from the aerospace community for a “space tug” concept, capable of bringing down the U.S. sections of the ISS.
The deorbit vehicle will be adapted from SpaceX’s existing spacecraft, which has been delivering cargo to the ISS since 2012 and crew since 2020. According to Sarah Walker, the vehicle will feature an “enhanced trunk section” with additional tanks of propellant, engines, avionics, and other elements customized for the mission. At present, most ISS partners plan to continue operations until 2030, although Russia has signaled its departure from the consortium amidst geopolitical tensions.
The ISS’s timeline is contingent upon the readiness of new commercial station replacements, which are being funded by NASA. A number of companies are currently developing these commercial outposts. Notably, Axiom Space plans to attach modules to the ISS and later convert them into a free-flying station.
Other efforts include a collaboration involving Amazon, Boeing, Blue Origin, and Sierra Space, as well as the Voyager Space-led initiative with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. NASA officials emphasize the importance of maximizing the ISS’s operational lifespan to maintain leadership in space exploration and avoid ceding ground to international competitors like China’s space station. As the era of the ISS gradually comes to an end, NASA and its partners are ensuring a seamless transition to commercial space stations, continuing humanity’s presence in low Earth orbit.
