Category: Space Station

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Fifteen partnering nations have agreed in principle to extend the life of the International Space Station, and keep it operating through 2020, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal. That is at least five years beyond the current deadline. Until now, the major partners – NASA, ESA and the Russian Space Agency – hadn’t committed to keeping the station operational past 2015, and questions loomed about the future of the ISS and its worthiness as a platform for scientific research. An extension could give new momentum to science, but may force NASA to siphon money away from other projects – like the new Constellation program – in order to pay for the additional years of operation.

The ISS has been under construction since 1998 and over the life of both designing and building the orbiting outpost, costs have crept upwards of $100 billion USD. But some feel that prolonging the facility’s life, particularly in the midst of the current global economic turmoil, could also force some tough questions within NASA. Adding five more years to the life of the ISS could cost about $10 billion or more between 2015 and 2020. NASA’s annual budget is around $18 billion, less than .7% of the US’s national budget.

Additionally, some members of Congress are looking to extend the life of the shuttle to avoid the five year gap (2010-2015) between shuttle retirement and the first human mission of the Ares/Orion combo, and Constellation’s goal of returning humans to the moon faces potentially significant delays unless Congress provides additional funds for NASA’s budget.

But does NASA put all the money towards building the space station and then abandon it? Neither Congress nor the White House wants the political flak for cutting off station operations without reaping the benefits of prior spending. Decisions have been complicated by the fact that arguments between the White House and some lawmakers have held up nomination of the next NASA administrator.

The international partners agreed that keeping the station operating past 2015 doesn’t “pose any significant technical challenges” and space-agency heads “committed to work with their respective governments” toward that goal, according to a NASA official.

NASA’S counterparts in Russia, Japan, Canada, various European countries and most of the other partners are eager to maintain political support and funding for the station. Space agencies around the globe believe the 2020 date is “an eminently logical goal” and “momentum is heading in that direction,” according to a source quoted in the Wall Street Journal. In order for an extension to become official, individual governments must formally agree and come up with a funding plan.

The ISS has provided promise of scientific breakthroughs in areas from medicine and biology to manufacturing microelectronic components. Scientists say the lack of gravity will provide new insights into molecular structures, cell activity and medical issues such as loss of bone density. Some of the first advances have already begun with recent findings of how salmonella poisoning forms in food and how human cells react to vaccines in space.

The Obama administration hopes the station’s extension will spark further international cooperation on space endeavors and scientific research. When the station crew grows to six in May, experiments this summer will look at how gravity may affect biofuels and for “what could possibly be a vaccine for multiple viruses,” said Joy Bryant, the head of Boeing Co.’s space-station team. “We’re just now beginning to see the full potential” of the research, she told reporters at a recent industry conference.

Source: Wall Street Journal

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NASA announced via Twitter that the space agency will announce the name of the new International Space Staton module next week on the Comedy Central show, “The Colbert Report.” As you may recall, the show’s host Stephen Colbert encouraged his viewers to write-in his name in NASA’s “Name the Node” contest, and he won in a landslide over NASA’s top suggestion, Serenity (“that’s the name of an adult diaper,” said Colbert), by over 40,000 votes. NASA astronaut Suni Williams will appear on the show on Tuesday, April 14 at 11:30 pm EDT. This certainly bodes well for the Colbert Nation, but will NASA really come through on this one and do something fun and engaging, or do what the middle-aged space agency usually does. Will it be “Democracy in Orbit?”

Watch a video of Colbert below telling NASA, “the ball is in your court.”

Update — NASA just released a press release on this, and here’s more:

“The node naming poll was organic and took on a life of its own,” said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We received more than a million
entries, in large part because social media Web sites and television programs, such as ‘The Colbert Report,’ took an interest. This spread overall awareness of the International Space Station.”

NASA originally planned to announce the node’s name on April 28 after it arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. However, the node’s arrival at Kennedy is delayed until May, so the announcement moved to April 14.

The show’s producers offered to host the name selection announcement after comedian and host Stephen Colbert took interest during the census and urged his followers to post the name “Colbert.”

“I certainly hope NASA does the right thing,” said Colbert. “Just kidding, I hope they name it after me.”

Node 3 is a pressurized module that will provide room for many of the space station’s life support systems. Attached to the node is the cupola, a one-of-a-kind work station with six windows around the sides and one on top. Node 3 is targeted for launch in late 2009.

For more information about the station and Node 3.

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A Russian cosmonaut spoke out last week before boarding the Soyuz and heading to the International Space Station, saying that while astronauts and cosmonauts have no problems getting along on board the ISS, the bureaucracies on the ground may still be experiencing a bit of cold war bickering. Gennady Padalka told the Novaya Gazeta newspaper that officials from Russia, the United States and other countries require cosmonauts and astronauts to eat their own food and follow stringent rules on access to other facilities, like toilets. “What is going on has an adverse effect on our work,” said Padalka, now on board the ISS, who will be taking over command of the space station for Expedition 19 and 20. Padalka, American astronaut Michael Barratt and spaceflight participant Chalres Simonyi reached the ISS on Saturday. “Cosmonauts are above the ongoing squabble, no matter what officials decide. We are grown-up, well-educated and good-mannered people and can use our own brains to create normal relationship. It’s politicians and bureaucrats who can’t reach agreement, not us, cosmonauts and astronauts.”

Padalka, a veteran of two previous missions to the ISS said the squabbles are hurting the crew’s morale and complicating work in space.

Russian space agency spokesman Alexander Vorobyov didn’t have an immediate comment to Padalka’s views.

Padalka said the arguments began back in 2003, when Russia started charging other space agencies for the resources used by their astronauts. Other partners in space station responded by requiring similar rules.

“They told me: ‘Yes, you can.’ Then they said no,” he was quoted as saying. “Then they hold consultations and they approve it again. And now, right before the flight, it turns out again that the answer is negative.”

“They also recommend us to only use national toilets,” Padalka was quoted as saying.

Padalka was also quoted as criticizing the Russian portion of the station, saying it looks backward compared to other sections.

“It’s built on technologies dating back to the mid-1980s, at the very latest,” he said. according to the report. “We are lagging seven to 30 years back in various space technologies.”

Russia’s space program has been known to be in financial troubles, and they have been selling seat on its Soyuz spacecraft to bring space tourists to the space station. However, with the increase in crew size on the ISS from three to six, every every spare seat on the Soyuz are spoken for, with no room for any additional tourists in the coming years.

Credit: Yahoo News

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The ten astronauts aboard the International Space Station chatted with US President Barack Obama – along with some school children and Congressmen (“big kids when it comes to talking to astronauts,” Obama said). Topics discussed during the 30 minute conversation included the new solar arrays installed by the STS-119 crew, extraterrestrial life, video games, space food and exercise. Obama got a big laugh in orbit and on the ground when said he was glad the astronauts were using a hands-free phone since they were cruising along at 17,500 mph. He also asked if the astronauts still drank Tang, which didn’t even merit a reply from space.

The president told the ISS crews and the visiting shuttle crew he was extraordinarily proud of them for their work the past week, and wanted details of how they installed the new solar panels.

“We’re investing back here on the ground a whole array of solar and other renewable energy projects and so to find out that you’re doing this up at the space station is particularly exciting,” Obama said.

Last week’s addition of the last set of solar wings doubled the amount of power available for science experiments and will help support a larger crew in a few months.

Obama also asked Sandy Magnus, who has been on board the ISS for several months, and the only woman on board, whether she was ever tempted to cut her hair, which floated around her head. She said no, and the president called it “a real fashion statement.”

Obama also noted the “international-ness” of the ISS and said, “One of the things about this that this is an international space station, and we hope this is an example of the sort of spirit of cooperation we can apply not just in space by here on the ground as well.”

To watch the complete interview, CollectSPACE has the video.

The space shuttle crew departed from the ISS on Wednesday.

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The International Space Station’s complex water recycling system which includes a balky urine processing assembly, now appears to be working in fine fashion after the ISS/shuttle crew installed a new distillation centrifuge unit over the weekend. After initial tests and checkout, (including a sound test to record what types of vibrations the unit was creating – hence the microphone), astronauts ran a water sample through the system and no problems were reported. “We had great success with the operation of the urine processor assembly,” said Lead Flight Director for the mission, Kwatsi Alibaruho at the mission status briefing. “We were able to perform the full processing cycle of about 70 pounds of urine that has been washed through the urine processor and has been converted into clean water. So we’re very excited about that.” Having a working water/urine recycling system is critical for NASA’s plans to increase the station crew size from three to six in late May.

The water recycling system converts water collected through condensate and urine into potable water for drinking, crew hygiene and oxygen generation. The urine processor was installed during a shuttle flight last November, but the vacuum distillation assembly centrifuge malfunctioned and eventually failed.

Alibaruho said the new assembly is performing well with no anomalies so far. “In fact, we got a report from the crew that all-around performance of that unit was much better from a vibration perspective and an acoustic perspective,” he said, “so that gives us some indication that that new distillation assembly that we flew up is in good shape and quite healthy. So we’re very excited about that activity today.”

The STS-119 shuttle crew will take four samples of processed water back to Earth to be analyzed by specialists to see if the entire system can be cleared for use by the crew.

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NASA obviously underestimated the awesome power of the Colbert. In an online contest to name a new module for the International Space Station, NASA suggested a few names, but then provided the possibility for write-in suggestions. Comedian Stephen Colbert won in a landslide, beating out NASA’s obvious top suggestion, Serenity by over 40,000 votes. But NASA has not said if they will heed the public’s wishes. Nearly 1.2 million votes were cast when the voting ended last Friday. Colbert has been in the lead for some time, and a few weeks ago NASA’s Associate Administrator for Space Operations Bill Gerstenmaier joined Colbert on his Comedy Central show to address the possibility of actually naming the module. “Will you now commit to naming that module Colbert if I win your online vote?” Colbert asked Gerstenmaier.

“Well, we’re going to have to go think about that as we get all the votes and we see where we are,” Gerstenmaier responded. See the video below:

NASA said it reserves the right to choose an appropriate name. Agency spokesman John Yembrick said NASA will decide in April, but will give top vote-getters “the most consideration.”

Colbert urged viewers of his Comedy Central show, “The Colbert Report” to write in his name. Colbert received 230,539 votes.

He said “Serenity” is not a name for a space station module, but for an air freshener.

Serenity took 70% of votes for NASA’s suggested names, with Legacy, Earthrise and Venture getting just a small percentage of the votes. NASA has said contests like this one are a way to get the public involved with space exploration.

Anyone want to place bets on what the module’s name will actually be?

For more information about the Node 3 module, read our original post about the naming contest.

Source: MSNBC, NASA