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FIFTEEN YEARS OF INTERNATIONAL NASA SPACE STATION

The International Space Station (ISS) celebrated its 15th birthday in October 2013. The ISS is the largest spaceship ever built by humans and very important for research, to understand life and physics. However, the ISS is very expensive to maintain and therefore some people argue that the ISS program should stop. The US president has decided to support the extension of the operations of the ISS to at least 2020.

TEXT Bas Verhagen & Tolga Celebi, Students Aerospace Engineering, Space Department

ince the arrival of Expedition 1, on Zarya. At that moment, the station con- ducted in microgravity. At the station, SNovember 2, 2000, the International sisted of two modules. Human presence the crew conducts experiments in the Space Station has been continuously oc- was not possible in these two modules so ! elds of biology, human biology, phys- cupied for more than 13 years, the longest the station remained unmanned for one ics, astronomy, meteorology and others. continuous human presence in space. The and a half years. In July 2000, the Russians Small-unmanned spacecraft can provide ISS programme is a joint project among added a third module: Zvezda. After con- platforms for zero gravity and exposure to ! ve participating space agencies: NASA, necting this module to the station, a crew space, but the ISS o" ers a long-term envi- Roscosmos, JAXA, ESA, and CSA. The sta- of two astronauts or cosmonauts could ronment where research can be done, po- tion is serviced by a variety of visiting stay on the ISS. It is still the structural and tentially for decades combined with ready spacecraft: Soyuz, Progress, the Auto- functional center of the Russian Orbital access to human researchers over periods mated Transfer Vehicle, the H-II Transfer Segment (ROS). Building the entire space that exceed the capabilities of manned Vehicle, Dragon, and Cygnus. Astronauts station required more than 115 # ights, of spacecraft. and cosmonauts from ! fteen di" erent na- which forty were assembly # ights. NASA describes the importance of the ISS tions have visited the ISS. The ISS is argu- Russian elements were launched to space for research as follows: ably the most expensive single item ever by proton rockets and NASA’s space shut- constructed. The total estimated cost of “The International Space Station is an un- tles brought other components into orbit. the space station is 100 billion dollar. precedented achievement in global hu- Also, more than 170 spacewalks were re- man endeavors to conceive, plan, build, quired to assemble and maintain the sta- CONSTRUCTION OF THE ISS operate, and utilize a research platform in tion. At this moment, the station consists The ISS is a modular structure whose space. With the assembly of the space sta- of a set of communicating modules, in ! rst component was launched in 1998. A tion at its completion and the support of which the astronauts can live. These mod- Proton rocket launched the ! rst ISS mod- a full-time crew of six, a new era of utiliza- ules are connected to a truss onto which ule. Zarya, on November 20, 1998. Zarya tion for research has begun.” four large solar panels are attached to provided electrical power, propulsion, power the station. One of the main research subjects is the storage and guidance during the initial human body. Research on the ISS im- stages of assembly. The STS-88 shuttle RESEARCH proves knowledge about the e" ects of mission followed two weeks after Zarya The ISS provides a unique platform on long-term space exposure on the human was launched, bringing Unity, the ! rst of which scienti! c research can be con- body. Subjects currently under study in- three node modules and connecting it to

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clude muscle atrophy, bone loss, and ra- a positive, demonstrable return on invest- CONCLUSION diation. The collected data will be used ment,” he added. The ISS provides a unique platform from to determine whether space colonization which scienti" c research can be conduct- “For the United States, we’re seeing some and long human space! ight are feasible. ed in microgravity. Some countries mainly bene" ts from the station that the partners Another widely researched subject is see the costs of maintaining the ISS and have not yet realized. The partners are physics. For example, the investigation of see little bene" ts The US thinks that the doing more traditional kinds of research. the physics of ! uids in microgravity will other countries are performing traditional They are not quite seeing that return on allow researchers to model the behavior experiments, so they do not give them- investment. They still see the cost side,” of ! uids more accurately. At this moment, selves an opportunity to see the returns Gerstenmaier added. “The cost side is very over 1,500 experiments have been per- on investments. If the US wants to contin- easy to measure. The bene" t side is not so formed with partners over 68 countries. ue the operation through 2028, they have easy to measure.” to convince the other partners about the FUTURE The debate over how long the Interna- bene" ts and returns on investment in the While there are currently discussions to tional Space Station should be main- upcoming years till 2020. extend the lifetime of the $100 billion In- tained is something that has long loomed ternational Space Station beyond 2020, over the program, one expert said. “This is REFERENCES there is concern about the station’s over- a little bit like smoker’s cough. It’s some- all usefulness and operational costs, such thing that nobody wants to notice”, said www.russianspaceweb.com/iss_chro- that the station might face a " ery demise John Logsdon, Professor Emeritus of Po- nology.html in Earth’s atmosphere at the end of this litical Science and International A# airs www.space.com/22348-international- decade. The overall operational capabili- at George Washington University’s Elliott space-station-lifespan-2020.html ties, utility, and longevity of the Earth-or- School of International A# airs in Washing- www.space.com/23663-international- biting complex, as well as the willingness ton, D.C. An expert in space policy and his- space-station-by-the-numbers. of nations to continue to take part in the tory, Logsdon said his bottom line is that html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_ program, were front-and-center topics “the odds are heavily against the continu- medium=feed&utm_campaign=Fee during a meeting of the NASA Advisory ation of the ISS post 2020”. Logsdon told d%3A+spaceheadlines+%28SPACE. Council’s (NAC) Human Exploration and SPACE.com that he does not think it likely com+Headline+Feed%29 Operations Committee on July 29th, 2013. that either Japan or Europe have any en- www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sta- During this meeting, William Gerstenmai- thusiasm to pay for the ISS after 2020. tion/research/index.html#.UrL7D- er, NASA’s Associate Administrator for Hu- PRDuWY “That presumes that there’s no major man Exploration and Operations Mission breakthrough,” Logsdon said, referring curiosity.discovery.com/question/in- Directorate, said space station compo- to any potential discovery on the station ternational-space-station-important nent failure rates have been less than an- with either great scienti" c or economic ticipated. “The hardware is looking pretty value. good overall,” he said. But micrometeoroid SPACE DEPARTMENT and orbital debris hits to the station are Furthermore, according to Logsdon, still considered “a major risk”, Gerstenma- there is some talk about Russia starting a The Space Department promotes as- ier advised. second-generation space station on their tronautics among the students and employees of the faculty of Aerospace own. The professor also pointed out that Concerning the attitude of the many Engineering at China has launched two crews to its " rst space station partners about continuing Delft University of space laboratory module, Tiangong 1, and operations through 2028, Gerstenmaier Technology by or- plans to construct a 60-ton space station ganizing lectures said: “I think this is probably an area where by 2020. and excursions. the US is going to have to lead.” Interna- tional partners “are still looking more for

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