Time to retire the ISS? Musk pushes for Mars as next big space destination

SpaceX boss Elon Musk reignites Mars exploration debate after Trump's tax bill allocates $1.25 billion to International Space Station, shifts focus to future colonisation missions

Elon Musk has once again stirred the space debate with call to retire the International Space Station (ISS). The SpaceX CEO shared a post on X detailing the space-related funding from US President Donald Trump’s latest tax bill, which includes $1.25 billion for the ISS. 

Musk said, “It’s time to retire the Space Station and focus on Mars.”   

  The same bill also sets aside $325 million for the safe deorbiting of the ISS by 2030 — an acknowledgement that the end of its mission may be near.

 

Why Musk believes the ISS has outlived its purpose

Musk has long been vocal about his view that the ISS no longer offers sufficient return on investment. According to him, its aging infrastructure — many parts of which are over 20 years old — poses a growing maintenance challenge and limits its scientific output.   

 

  He argues that continued funding for the station pulls resources away from bigger priorities, namely, sending humans to Mars. For Musk, Mars is not just the next frontier but a crucial lifeboat for humanity's future. In his vision, planetary colonisation is essential, and all efforts — including financial ones — should now be directed toward that goal.

 

A viral glimpse of the red planet

Elon Musk’s Mars ambitions are not just limited to statements. In February this year, he reignited public interest by sharing an AI-generated video on X, showcasing a futuristic city on Mars. The one-minute, 12-second clip, captioned ‘Welcome to Mars’, featured an advanced Martian settlement and quickly went viral.     

 

 

A long-standing obsession with Mars

Musk has never hidden his ambitions for a multi-planetary future. At the 2016 Recode Code Conference, he said, “If things go according to plan, we should be able to launch people probably in 2024 with arrival in 2025,” referring to his plans to send humans to Mars.

 

Aging infrastructure and deorbit plans

In July 2024, Nasa had confirmed that the International Space Station (ISS) cannot remain in orbit indefinitely due to the effects of Earth’s atmosphere, which causes gradual orbital decay even at its altitude of about 415 km (257 miles). Without regular reboosts, the ISS would naturally re-enter the atmosphere within one to two years, making a controlled deorbit essential to avoid the risk of debris falling on populated areas. 

The US space agency has evaluated various options for the station’s end-of-life, including disassembly, boosting to a higher orbit, or transferring to commercial operators, but concluded that a controlled deorbit using a dedicated vehicle is the safest and only viable method. In 2024, Nasa selected SpaceX to develop this deorbit vehicle, which will guide the station to a remote part of the ocean at the end of its mission in 2030, minimising risks to people and property on Earth.