Are there any novels that talk about what would happen to the ISS inhabitants if, say, there was a world ending event? Seems like the better place to ask than Veeky Forums because I'm not opposed to reading any sort of official document on what they're supposed to do in the event there is total loss of communication either.
How long would the ISS potentially last if all maintenance and stuff ceased? Not just food, I mean regular orbit corrections and things of that nature. There's a small possibility it would be the only thing left of human civilization for awhile if something truly catastrophic happened.
The STARSHINE-1 satellite took about nine months to decay from a bit under 400 km. STARSHINE-1 was a sphere about the size of a large beach ball, so I'd expect the drag on the ISS to be larger and the decay quicker.
ISS uses something like 7,000 kg annually for obit maintenance. Assuming all the modules were fully fueled before resupply stopped, you're looking at about 17,000 kg of fuel distributed through PM, Progress M, Progress M1, and ATV, enough for two and a half years of stationkeeping. That's assuming the fuel is fully transferable and has equivalent thrust capacity, I didn't dive that deep into the figures.
So just from a stationkeeping perspective, you're looking at maybe three to three and a half years before the station hits rock after resupply ends.
Brayden Reed
So the astronauts, assuming food and water last as long (it probably won't, even with severe rationing) could be up there for 4-5 years potentially.
Carson Jenkins
might be a touch less than that but it's in the ballpark, assuming nothing mechanical goes wrong
Carson Phillips
What took the picture of this?
Also, where are the thousands of satellites orbiting earth?
Noah Moore
Not sure how long they would last but there's an emergency soyuz lander parked in the back. Dunno how many could fit or what the weight constraints for landing are though.
