With 6x more propellant and 4x the power of today’s Dragon spacecraft, SpaceX was selected to design and develop the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle for a precise, controlled deorbit of the @Space_Station
Looks like there will be 30 draco engines on the back of that thing. Pretty Kerbal!
Edit:
For a bit of context, Give Well reckons there’s at least one charitable programme where it only costs $5000 to save a human life.
Also, the total budget request for this deorbit plan (including launch and operating costs, etc.) is more like $1.5 billion.
And again, I know something like this US Deorbit Vehicle is the only realistic option. But if I was Bill Nelson I’d at least be writing a quick letter to the UN; let them be the ones to make this (probably) wrong decision.
Let’s not set the precedent of having the UN make decisions about space.