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stefanSfermat t1_jcaa59z wrote

Reply to comment by Pharisaeus in NASA wants new 'deorbit tug' to bring space station down in 2030 by DevilsRefugee

Actually, it was used in exactly that capacity in multiple missions.

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Pharisaeus t1_jcab047 wrote

Yes, but for very small reboosts, nowhere near what would be required here.

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stefanSfermat t1_jcab5fx wrote

Do you know how the ISS was constructed?

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Pharisaeus t1_jcacr2a wrote

I have no idea what point you're trying to make. The article discusses de-orbiting the ISS, which requires pushing a 500t object to a transfer orbit with 150km lower perigee than what it is right now. The space shuttle had nowhere near the delta-v to do that. Yes it was used few times to reboost ISS orbit, but only a tiny bit.

Yes, Shuttle was used to construct some parts of the ISS, but in 36 flights in total. Are you suggesting an idea to de-assemble ISS and take it back to the ground piece by piece? It's a completely crazy idea and even if the Shuttle was still operational it would never be considered.

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stefanSfermat t1_jcadpix wrote

Some parts? 🤣

I am discussing the need for a general-purpose LEO utility vehicle. It is extremely unlikely that we would ever attempt to bring the ISS in its entirety, fully assembled, back to ground.

You can't move a house with a pickup truck, but a pickup truck is definitely an asset on a job site.

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Pharisaeus t1_jcaecu7 wrote

> Some parts? 🤣

Yes. Large part of the ISS was not launched on the Shuttle. Zarya, Zvezda, Pirs, Poisk, Nauka, Prichal were not. And Mir and recently Tiangong proved you don't need a Shuttle to construct a modular space station.

> the need for a general-purpose LEO utility vehicle

No such need ever existed, and history showed how stupid idea this was. It was bad as a launcher because you needed a crew, which made it extremely expensive and dangerous. It was also bad as a manned craft, because you had a huge vehicle with a tiny manned part. The only scenarios where it was useful was Hubble refurbishing and SpaceLab missions. Everything else, including ISS construction, could have been done much cheaper by regular rockets.

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stefanSfermat t1_jcaf62k wrote

Yes, you could likely construct a house with an axe and nothing else. That doesn't mean a saw and other carpentry tools wouldn't be useful.

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