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nursenavigator t1_jc77wng wrote

Reply to comment by Various-Air-1398 in NASA wants new 'deorbit tug' to bring space station down in 2030 by DevilsRefugee

I'm guessing you're unfamiliar with orbital physics

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msuvagabond t1_jc7bku4 wrote

I was thinking "Man, attempting to get the ISS complete orbit past Geostationary Orbit (the min level you'd be required to send it to) might cost nearly as much as building the damn thing did."

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_rake t1_jc7k0uh wrote

just changing it's orbit to be on the plane of the equator would require so much fuel it'd be easier to build a new one instead.

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Martianspirit t1_jcajoxu wrote

Getting it equatorial is not needed. Just raise orbit beyond 36,000km. Which still needs a huge delta-v.

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_rake t1_jcaqjuc wrote

True, I made my response based off some post I read a while ago about re-purposing the ISS as the lunar gateway. "just move it to the moon"

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jftitan t1_jc7b6b2 wrote

He never watched Futurama where the space trash ball returns to earth.

You see, humans tried to send our trash to the sun... problem solved.

But then again the trash ball took orbit and then eventually returned to earth.

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nursenavigator t1_jc7bsmf wrote

Yup. And the cool part about "let's take our trash and ship it to the sun!" is that hitting the sun is very difficult. Lot less fuel is needed and easier aiming if you blast out to, say, Jupiters orbit, slow down , and then let the sun pull it in.

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