Inside NASA's $1 BILLION plan to obliterate the ISS

International Space Station will be destroyed in 2030 - with up to 100 TONNES expected to slam into Earth .

By 2030 , a SpaceX-operated tugboat will drag the space station back into Earth 's atmosphere where it will burn up and, hopefully, fall harmlessly into the ocean.

But experts say that the ISS is no longer useful for NASA and is a growing liability.

NASA plans to deorbit the station in 2022 , starting from 2026 .

The last human crew will depart the station on a regular crew capsule.

The final tug will be based on the SpaceX Dragon with an enhanced trunk section.

That trunk will essentially be a spaceship in its own right complete with navigational equipment.

NASA estimates that the total cost of developing this new system will be $1 billion ( 800 million ) The biggest concern is that when the ISS reaches an altitude of 100 miles ( 150km ) the rocket won't be able to keep it pointed in the right direction.

To make matters worse, space weather conditions can cause the Earth 's atmosphere to fluctuate, changing the amount of resistance on the space station.

This could potentially trigger the station to tumble out of control.