(July 1, 2024)

The International Space Station is the largest, most complex and most important element of space infrastructure yet deployed, and one of the most incredible engineering accomplishments in human history. It is the result of an international, diplomatic initiative reconciling in space the Western world and the Eastern world by combining the two space stations until then planned separately by each side – Space Station Freedom and Mir 2 – involving five major partners, the United States, Europe, Japan, Canada and Russia.
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For example, to move the ISS from its present 400-kilometer altitude to an 800-kilometer altitude circular orbit requires a boost of about 220 meters per second, about the same as required for precise deorbit control. At the higher altitude, the orbital lifetime would be many decades, providing ample time for future generations to take their own decisions and actions.
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We are not in charge anymore, but our question to the current generation is: since the boost stage must be built anyway, would it not be better to use that stage to place the ISS in a higher orbit for the possible use of a future generation than to destroy it upon reentry?