number 5, march 2001 on station The Newsletter of the Directorate of Manned Spaceflight and Microgravity http://www.estec.esa.nl/spaceflight/ in this issue Planninglanning thethe FFuture: A Year for Major Exploitation and Commercialisation Decisions foreword Exploitation and Commercialisation Decisions Planning the Future: A Year for Jörg Feustel-Büechl Major Exploitation and ESA Director of Manned Spaceflight and Microgravity Commercialisation Decisions Jörg Feustel-Büechl Last year went superbly well: eight launches to the International Space Station delivered long-awaited hardware crv and supplies.The hardware elements included Europe’s first The Crew Return Vehicle 4 contribution, the DMS-R data management system, which is Eckart Graf working well.We also had the first Expedition crew onboard – a real milestone for the Station and our overall partnership. dms-r The second crew recently took over the reins. I have firm DMS-R in Control 8 hopes that this year will be as good as 2000. Daniel Guyomard There are up to 14 launches planned for this year, including some important European contributions. gts Destiny’s appearance in February was a milestone Transmitting from Space: 10 in the Station’s assembly The Global Transmission Services because we now have Experiment the first real operational Jens D. Schiemann laboratory. Although it is not yet equipped sts-107 with research facilities, it will be over Bridging the Gap 14 the next few months.This means that a good ESA’s Microgravity Research portion of the infrastructure is now in space, and we Aboard STS-107 expect that European investigators will soon be able Werner Riesselmann to perform experiments onboard. The most recent manned mission delivered the first MPLM, iss Leonardo, in March.Then, in April, we will have the first Station Update 18 European – ESAAstronaut Umberto Guidoni - aboard the Station, along with the second MPLM, Raffaello.This year’s recent & relevant highly ambitious schedule includes our second European News 22 astronaut, Claudie André-Deshays, who is manifested aboard a Soyuz taxi flight in October. ard In a more ‘earthly’ sense, we completed the preliminary Mission Accomplished 25 design review of our Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) on Final Report on the Atmospheric 14 December last year, and that was a technical success.We Reentry Demonstrator now have a consolidated design but are struggling with the Mike Steinkopf financial consequences. On 18 January, the Columbus critical design review concluded – altogether very successful.We are now firmly on track with Columbus. Directorate of Manned Spaceflight and Microgravity Direction des Vols Habité et la Microgravité The International Space Station has established a new permanent human presence in space. With the arrival of its first research module, the ISS is now open for exploiting the assets offerred by manned spaceflight. In June, ISS FORUM 2001 will take place in Berlin to review the plans for exploiting the ISS and to brief everyone interested in the opportunities being opened up by this new infrastructure in space. The European Space Agency – as one of the five Partners INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (NASA, Rosaviakosmos, ESA, NASDA, CSA) developing the ISS UTILISATION ISS is a programme of Space Station – and the CONFERENCE ON: partnership German Space Agency (DLR) RESEARCH AND invite all interested DEVELOPMENT parties to this key event. INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS The ISS FORUM 2001 programme is supported by all COMMERCIAL the ISS Partners. It is designed UTILISATION so that participants from NATIONAL SPACE DEVELOPMENT AGENCY OF JAPAN different sectors: BERLIN • understand the Station’s 5 - 7 June 2001 unique potential ISS FORUM 2001 • capture available opportunities • forge alliances for exploiting this new base in space Honorary Programme Committee: Check the website at The conference fee is EUR 300 / http://www.ISSForum2001.com DM 600 Dan Goldin NASA Administrator Yuri Koptev Director General for further information and to register. Rosaviakosmos The conference is supported by Antonio Rodotà Director General ESA Presentations for this conference are by invitation only. Lufthansa. Special fares to the Mac Evans President CSA conference on Lufthansa flights Shuichiro Yamanouchi President NASDA Questions and comments on the conference can also be are available with the code Walter Kröll President DLR GGAIRLHKONG.450 addressed to [email protected] The conference is jointly organised and sponsored by ESA and DLR foreword Of course, one of the significant highlights practicable and with of 2001 is the Ministerial meeting in acceptable costs.These November.We are busy preparing decisions for need to be elaborated as one of the so-called Period 1 of the ISS Exploitation. the initial promotional elements of This period covers the 5-year timeframe of Forum 2001.We must actively 2002-2006, with approval of the first 3-year promote our projects in order to firm envelope and the following 2-year demonstrate to investors and provisional envelope to be addressed.That will industry that the Station is a be a significant topic on the Ministerial worthwhile commercial venture. agenda. In that context, we will have not only We should not forget that around two- important decisions on operation of the thirds of the utilisation remains institutional Station, but also on its utilisation, and and therefore available for scientific research particularly on further efforts to promote either from ESA or our Member States.This is commercial utilisation.We are preparing to and will remain the backbone of our ISS promote commercial utilisation with a view to utilisation programme. And there we have a selecting a ‘Business Developer’ to take care of number of early projects, including the ACES around a third of the European utilisation that atomic clock experiment, solar science, Earth has been earmarked for commercial observation and technology experiments that applications.The other two-thirds are for are under development and that illustrate the institutional utilisation. scientific and technological utilisation in the Indeed, commercial utilisation provides the broadest sense as well as being good major theme for the Forum 2001 in June in opportunities onboard the Station. Berlin.This is where such questions as ‘how to We are looking forward to the STS-107 approach commercial entities’, ‘how to Spacehab mission where we have a lot of promote commercialisation’, ‘what needs to be experiments totalling 580 kg onboard.We done’ and ‘what resources are required’ will be hope that it will be launched in September. addressed.This is the first forum supporting STS-107 really is one of our key microgravity all-Partner global events this year. NASA aims to provide one commercialisation of the Shuttle research mission per year to Station, demonstrating complement the Station, so we can expect that we are able to offer further such scientific missions.We are keen such a potential capability. for our microgravity community to use This is really a serious gesture by these flight opportunities and have all five Partners to promote the already made some preliminary concept of commercial utilisation. I am arrangements with NASA for the on Station very pleased to say that we have already next opportunity. started the initiative, with a lot of work ESA’s DMS-R has been working -3 undertaken last year that has already led to fine since its launch last July.We certainly some ideas for commercial utilisation. congratulate the industrial and ESA teams for We continue the vigorous pursuit of the their performance! I would also like to remind process to find a commercial agent/Business readers that this is an excellent example of Developer who will progressively take over Euro-Russo cooperation, and has turned out to more and more of the commercialisation issue. be of great satisfaction for both parties. I firmly hope that we will be able to select such As far as the Station’s Crew Return Vehicle a Business Developer within the next 2 years. (CRV) is concerned, ESA is currently awaiting However, we need to firm up on our an industrial proposal for Phase 1, expected to promotion programme before we can make be headed-up by a joint team from two that selection.The Station is still in its infancy industrial partners to lead the whole CRV and we need to convince potential commercial industrial consortium.We are looking forward users that this is the way to go, with to placing a contract very soon, so that the established rules and regulations that are implementation can begin in earnest. I on Station no. 5, march 2001 crv TThehe CCrreeww RRetureturnn VVehicleehicle Eckart D. Graf X-38/CRV Project Manager,D/MSM,ESTEC,Postbus 299,2200 AG Noordwijk,The Netherlands Email: [email protected] Introduction CRV development is in two phases: Phase-1 The CRV will return International Space Station includes the design activities up to the Critical (ISS) crews of up to seven astronauts safely to Design Review; Phase-2 will include the Earth in the event of a medical emergency, production of four operational CRVs, two Station evacuation or if the Shuttle is not CRV/ISS berthing adapters, including the available.The CRV is the operational version of International Berthing/Docking Mechanism the X-38 prototype, which (IBDM), four DPSs and the provision of spares As the Space Station receives its is being developed and sustaining engineering. first modules, NASA and ESA are cooperatively by NASA, With the full start of Phase-1 in 2001, the on course to develop the next ESA, DLR and 22 European first operational CRV is expected to be at the human spacecraft: the Crew industrial firms in eight Station before mid-2007. Until then, astronauts Return Vehicle (CRV).The countries. will rely on Russian Soyuz capsules in programme is building on the emergencies. technologies and expanding the CRV Mission Profile Major milestones during the early part of partnership developed in the X-38 Within 3 hours of departure Phase-1 are the System Requirements Review programme..