Space Stories: Preparing for a Commercial Space Station, Ukraine Protests New ISS Crew, and Metal 3D Printing in Space

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Artist’s rendering of the Starlab commercial space station in orbit. (Starlab Space)

Here are some recent stories of interest related to space stations.

—SpaceNews: “Starlab Commercial Space Station to Launch on Starship“

Starlab Space, the joint venture developing the Starlab commercial space station, has selected SpaceX’s Starship to launch the station on a single flight. Starlab Space, a joint venture of Voyager Space and Airbus Space and Defence, announced Jan. 31 it reached an agreement with SpaceX to launch the Starlab station on Starship. The companies did not disclose terms of the agreement or a projected launch date, although a spokesperson for Starlab Space said the company was confident that Starlab would be launched before the decommissioning of the International Space Station, currently scheduled for 2030.

—Kyiv Post: “Ex-Russian Military Officer Joins NASA for ISS Mission; Ukrainian Outrage Follows“

Alexander Grebenkin, a former Russian military officer and current Roscosmos cosmonaut, is set to travel to the International Space Station as part of the NASA team, as announced on the NASA website, where Ukrainians have commented their outrage. NASA, in collaboration with SpaceX, plans to launch Crew-8 to the International Space Station no earlier than Thursday, Feb. 22.

—Aviation Week Network: “European Space Agency Launches ‘First’ Metal 3D Printer To ISS“

The European Space Agency (ESA) has launched what it says is the “first metal 3D printer” to be hosted on the International Space Station (ISS). While plastic 3D printers have been used aboard the ISS since 2014, a machine that prints stainless steel would be new and could allow astronauts greater self-sufficiency, including the ability to make complex metallic structures in orbit, as well as at future Moon and Mars bases, ESA said Jan. 30.

Cosmonaut Surpasses Earlier Days in Space Record

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Roscosmos cosmonaut and Expedition 70 Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko (Andrey Shelepin NASA)

Just yesterday, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko surpassed an earlier record for the amount of time a human has spent in space. He has now been in orbit more than 878 days, this being his fifth rotation on the International Space Station. The earlier record was set in 2015 by cosmonaut Gennady Padalka.

American astronauts have a ways to go before approaching this record. To date, the record for cumulative days in space is held by a NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson at 675 days.

*Peggy Whitson extended her record cumulative time in space by nine days as an Axiom Space astronaut during Axiom Mission-2 from May 21 through May 30, 2023.
Credit: NASA

Space Quote: NASA Cannot Do Everything in this Budget Environment

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“The current budget environment has significant implications for mission and safety risk. NASA has a very full mission plate. To the extent that their budget request is not fully funded, the leadership will need to acknowledge and make critical decisions with respect to program content or schedules, which will need to be adjusted to meet fiscal realities. Attempting to do all planned efforts on expected timelines will introduce unacceptable and unmanaged risk. The Agency will need to rely on its developed strategic vision, objectives, and architecture to establish well-defined priorities to ground its endeavors in reality – taking fully into account the risk-benefit tradeoffs.”

-Statement in the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel’s 2023 Annual Report regarding NASA’s operating environment. One particular area of risk relates to Artemis III, which entails a crewed landing on the Moon. The report states:

In addition, prior to the Artemis III mission, NASA will need to address whatever issues arise from the Artemis II mission, including the possibilities of hardware (HW) and software (SW) changes to both the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion. Orion flight time on Artemis III will exceed previous durations. Given that it is a new rocket, a new human capsule, and a new human spaceflight environment for this generation of NASA workers, it is not unreasonable to think that NASA will still have a great deal of discovery to do with every Artemis mission for the foreseeable future, and that both schedules and workloads will need to expand accordingly.

Commercial Benefits from the Space Program

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You may have been told that the earlier space program gave us Tang and Velcro. Well, that is not really true.

For instance, Tang was already at your local supermarket back in 1959. It was not until 1962 when Tang was taken into space with John Glenn on Friendship 7 and only then did it become a “space age drink” used by the Gemini through Apollo programs.

In the case of Velcro, it was invented by a Swiss engineer who based it on burrs that clung to the fur of his dog. Later on, NASA found it to be very useful for astronauts.

So what did NASA introduce to the world? Fortunately, NASA’s 2024 Spinoff report can provide you with plenty of answers. In an article on the report, NASA highlighted the following commercial applications of space technology:

  • Spherical “squishy” robots capable of dropping into dangerous situations before first responders enter;
  • “Digital winglets” aircraft-routing technology that’s enabling increased fuel efficiency and smoother flights;
  • Lighter, more durable disc brake designs that produce less dust than traditional disc brakes;
  • Computer software to help businesses and communities cope with and recover from natural disasters like wildfires; and
  • New 3D printing methods to additively manufacture rocket engines and other large aluminum parts.

If you go to the full report, you can find other commercial applications that are more readily relatable to your everyday, including:

  • NASA-funded molecular research enables better disease detection;
  • Radiation-resistant microbe studied in space leads to fewer wrinkles, less sun damage on Earth;
  • Technology pioneered for space plant-growth chambers cleans indoor air; and
  • Materials for coating spaceplanes maintain comfort in outerwear, sports uniforms, jeans.

Take a look at the report yourself for more examples. It is full of good stories about how the space program can assist us here on Earth.

I am sure we can find similar reports related to the defense industry, but I would prefer our goal be better products generated from a space race rather than an arms race.

Pic of the Week: Space Shuttle Finds a New Home

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Image (Credit): Ongoing construction work assembling the Space Shuttle Endeavor and related stack elements at the planned Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center. (California Science Center)

This week’s image comes from California and shows the construction of a new giant exhibit at the future Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center. What you are seeing is a covered Space Shuttle Endeavour, which flew its final mission back in May 2011.

You can view more images and videos related to the creation of this new exhibit by visiting the California Science Center site. The site notes:

This will be the only complete stack of authentic space shuttle flight hardware in existence, making the Endeavour exhibit even more significant than before. In addition to allowing the public unprecedented, unique vantage points, this configuration retains a complete flight stack for engineers and historians to examine in the future. NASA and aerospace companies frequently visit museums to look at hardware from previous programs in order to design for the future projects.