- SpaceX unveils $843 million USDV for ISS deorbit mission.
- Enhanced Dragon capsule will guide station’s final descent.
- USDV features six times more propellant and quadruple power capacity.
Cosmic crane game
SpaceX has unveiled its plans for the $843 million U.S. Deorbit Vehicle (USDV), designed to bring down the International Space Station at the decade’s end.
This spacecraft, a souped-up version of the Dragon capsule, will leverage flight-proven hardware to ensure reliability in this critical mission.
NASA’s Dana Weigel emphasized that about half of the USDV will be new, including all deorbit functionality.
Space station’s last dance
The USDV’s mission involves a series of burns over the ISS’s final week. It will dock to the station’s forward port 18 months before the deorbit sequence begins, remaining in place until the ISS reaches an altitude of 220 kilometers.
The spacecraft will then guide the station through its final descent, culminating in a precise splashdown in an uninhabited ocean area.
SpaceX’s Sarah Walker highlighted the complexity of the mission, particularly the final burn, which must control the entire space station against increasing atmospheric drag.
To meet these challenges, the USDV will boast six times the usable propellant and three to four times the power generation and storage of current Dragon capsules.
The result? A Dragon capsule on steroids, complete with a massive trunk attachment.
