NASA hasannounced plansfor the International Space Station (ISS) to be officially decommissioned in 2031.
Originally commissioned for a 15-year lifespan, the ISS is outliving all expectations.
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The ISSalso helpsto monitor Earths ecosystems and natural disasters in real-time.
Despite onboard research gaining momentum, NASA has noticed signs of infrastructure and components slowing down.
These thermal extremes cause cyclic expansion and contraction which wears the material.
The rise of flying space junk also poses unplanned and catastrophic risk of destruction.
If degradation or unplanned damage occurs before the official decommissioning, a free-falling ISS poses serious dangers.
In fact, it would not be the first space stationto fall out of the sky.
While no one was harmed, this led to reforms and design for demise guidelines.
ISS viewing the Pacific, where it will end its days.
NASA
Design for demise is animportant principlefor the engineering of satellites and other orbiting space infrastructure.
However, this is highly improbable.
Jeff Bezos Blue Origin recently announced plans to replace the ISS with the companysprivately-operated space station.
However,times are changingand NASA now purchases seats on board spacecraft owned by SpaceX.
Ultimately, NASA will become just another customer of commercial operators.
