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SpaceX Wins $843-Million NASA Contract to Destroy the International Space Station
(www.scientificamerican.com)
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this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2024
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Isn’t it in a low enough orbit that it should just come down and burn up eventually anyway? Seems like they could save a lot of money that way…
It's big enough that not all of it will burn up. And you don't want the debris to hit someone.
Gotcha, makes sense.
To add to what others have said already, much smaller batteries, though think like lantern sized, didn't burn up on re-entry and damaged someone's house. NASA is already paying for that.
There will be shit falling down due to it's size, so the deorbit has to be controlled