The Future of the International Space Station

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image(Credit): Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus space freighter approaching the International Space Station (NASA).

Over the weekend, the Washington Post published an editorial by Homer Hickam, former NASA engineer and advisor to the National Space Council, titled, “Our space partnership with Russia can’t go on.” In the piece, Mr. Hickam argues that the International Space Station (ISS) has accomplished its goals and the US can now move onto other projects without the Russians:

With our flourishing commercial space companies, who are already cutting metal on their own future space stations, plus our federal government’s Artemis moon program, the United States is entering a new golden age of space exploration. The Russians, meanwhile, are stuck in the past with antiquated spacecraft and nowhere to go except the ISS.

Mr. Hickam appears to believe pushing out the Russians may mean the end of the ISS. Of course, this is just one man’s view, and whatever we do we need to do it in conjunction with our other ISS partners.

We could continue to maintain the ISS through 2030, as planned, and schedule more useful science even without the Russians as partners. This may make sense until we have another viable station that we can use, such as NASA’s planned lunar Gateway. Russia will not be part of the Gateway given that it is working with China on other lunar plans, so we do not need to worry about another breakup.

It would be better if Russia had focused on its space accomplishments rather than territorial ambitions as it prepares for the future. Joint space programs are a great way to use rockets for peaceful missions. I am not against a space race that pushes us even farther into space, yet I would prefer it be fueled by scientific achievement rather than nationalist angst.

Image(Credit): Artist rendering of the Artemis lunar Gateway (NASA).

More Angst Regarding the International Space Station

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Source/Credit: Image of Russian section breaking away from the ISS from NASA Watch.

You may have already seen this ridiculous Russian video that NASA Watch shared with the world. It is very disturbing. Presumably created by the Russian space program Roscosmos, it shows the Russian portion of the International Space Station (ISS) breaking away as a result of the worldwide sanctions against the Russians for invading Ukraine. Here is the NASA Watch tweet and related video (an image of which is shown above):

Russian gov’t-controlled RIA Novosti @rianru posted a video on Telegram made by @Roscosmos where cosmonauts say goodbye to Mark Vande Hei on #ISS, depart, and then the Russian segment detaches from the rest of ISS. @Rogozin is clearly threatening the ISS program. #NASA#Ukraine

One person provided some hope among all this foolishness with this reply:

Basically all astro-/ cosmonauts said that after a couple of days in space they only see a fragile planet, and that nation states start to disappear in their minds.

And now we have former US astronaut Scott Kelly and SpaceX’s Elon Musk battling with Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos. Scott Kelly was clear in his dislike of Rogozin’s comments about the ISS:

Maybe you could find yourself a job working at McDonalds if McDonalds still exists in Russia.

None of this is helpful when we have lives in space depending on a competent ground team. Let’s hope all these egos do not get in the way of the professionalism we expect from the US, Russia, and others with regards to the safe operation of the ISS.

Another Russian Casualty: Mars

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Source/Credit: The Exomars rover from the ESA.

Yesterday, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced that another space program has been impacted by the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine:

Regarding the ExoMars programme continuation, the sanctions and the wider context make a launch in 2022 very unlikely. ESA’s Director General will analyse all the options and prepare a formal decision on the way forward by ESA Member States.

The ESA website on the Exomars program notes that it is a two part mission searching for life on Mars: the Trace Gas Orbiter launched in 2016 and the Exomars rover and surface platform planned for launch in 2022. NASA also contributed to this latest mission:

NASA’s participation in the 2022 ExoMars Rover mission includes providing critical elements to the premier astrobiology instrument on the rover, the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA). By studying organic molecules, the chemical building blocks of life, MOMA is designed to help answer questions about whether life ever existed on Mars, along with its potential origin, evolution and distribution on the Red Planet.

The list of impacted space missions will only grow.

Ukraine and Starlink

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Source/Credit: Starlink terminals posted in a Ukrainian tweet.

Three cheers for SpaceX’s assistance to Ukraine during this difficult time. After Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov made a plea to SpaceX for assistance with its Internet, Mr. Must approved the shipment of Starlink terminals to Ukraine to allow the country to use the company’s satellites for its communications.

Vice Prime Minister Fedorov had tweeted:

@elonmusk, while you try to colonize Mars — Russia try to occupy Ukraine! While your rockets successfully land from space — Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people! We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and to address sane Russians to stand.

We can haggle about the number of Starlink satellites in orbit another time. Fortunately, such satellites are there when the beleaguered Ukrainians need them.

You can read more about it via The Verge.

Russia Interrupts Space Missions

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Source/Credit: Guiana Space Center launch pads from the ESA.

Be prepared. With the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and the related U.S. and European sanctions, we can expect some delays and cancellations in upcoming space missions. The latest news story is Russia’s pull out of the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, leading to the delayed launch of two European Space Agency (ESA) Galileo navigation satellites that were to be sent into orbit on Soyuz rockets.

Director General of Russia’s Roscosmos tweeted:

In response to EU sanctions against our enterprises, Roscosmos is suspending cooperation with European partners in organizing space launches from the Kourou cosmodrome and withdrawing its technical personnel, including the consolidated launch crew, from French Guiana.

Luckily, the world is becoming less and less reliant on Russian rockets. Nonetheless, it would be better for Russia to focus on scientific missions again rather than military missions. Rockets should be aimed at the stars instead of the Ukrainian people.