ISS News and Discussion

[bxr140]

Tomorrow’s news may bring fresh insight but, as of late 30 April, Bloomberg and a number of UK-based news feeds are saying that Russia’s role in the ISS will terminate shortly. This appears to be the logical conclusion - if sooner than expected - of Moscow’s statements at the beginning of the month.

IIRC Dima's statement that he's taking his ball and going home was contingent upon "illegal sanctions". Since there's no illegal sanctions, we're good to go!

 

[Grendal]

ISS partnership feeling some effects of sanctions on Russia

While ISS operations continue without “serious interruptions,” sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine are starting to affect some activities.

spacenews.com

 

[ecarfan]

ISS partnership feeling some effects of sanctions on Russia

While ISS operations continue without “serious interruptions,” sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine are starting to affect some activities.

spacenews.com

Interesting story.

There has also been a “voluntary departure” of some NASA personnel and their families from Russia, forcing NASA “to manage the workforce more tightly and more aggressively than they have in the past.”

I suspect what happened is that those Americans told NASA they didn’t feel safe being in Russia and they were leaving, whether NASA liked it or not.

The sanctions have not affected other ISS issues, including a long-running investigation into a small but persistent air leak in the Russian segment’s service module. “NASA and Russia are continuing to work cooperatively to determine root cause, risk margins and mitigations,” Helms said. Cosmonauts have installed strain gauges around suspected leak locations to measure the effects of stresses on the module, such as thruster firings, dockings and undockings of spacecraft and the thermal stresses of the day-night cycle as the station orbits the Earth.

The Zvedza module was built in the mid-80’s and has been part of the station for almost 22 years. And the Russian side of the station has other problems:

The Mir space station and Zvezda had the same design problem of launching with all the hardware permanently installed. Russian (and Soviet) space doctrine has always been to fix the hardware onboard instead of simply replacing them like the US Orbital Segment (USOS) does with the 41.3 inch (105 cm) wide International Standard Payload Racks that can easily fit through the 51 inch (130 cm) wide hatch openings through the modules connected via the Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM). This means broken but unfixable hardware onboard the Mir modules and Zvezda end up being stuck there forever and can't be replaced. ESA Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano in 2020 said that the originally installed computers in Zvezda don't work anymore and the central command post's computers are now three Lenovo ThinkPad laptops. The broken computers' monitors, keyboard, and other devices are left there as it is but cannot be removed and replaced. The pre-installed Elektron oxygen generating system also has to be fixed frequently by cosmonauts instead of simply being replaced due to the problem of Zvezda's 78.74 cm (31 inch) wide hatch and the inability to replace the Elektron with another Elektron. Another reason why Elektrons can't be replaced is because the three Elektron units that were launched on Zvezda were the last units ever manufactured. The original manufacturers went out of business and the single engineer who made the tweaks for the Elektrons that were installed on Zvezda died with all his secrets and knowledge not passed to anybody else.[citation needed] In October 2020, the Elektron system malfunctioned yet again and had to be deactivated.

That’s an incredible story about the Elektron.

My guess is that next year, or sooner, Russia will announce that it is withdrawing from the ISS in 2024.

 

[Grendal]

NASA puts ISS spacewalks on hold to investigate water leak

NASA is continuing to investigate water that leaked into a spacesuit helmet during a spacewalk earlier this year and is holding off on future spacewalks.

spacenews.com

 

[ecarfan]

And now Russia is using the ISS for political propaganda. The era of US/Russian cooperation in space should end. At this point, it’s a sham.

https://www.npr.org/2022/05/23/1098348347/russias-war-in-ukraine-is-threatening-an-outpost-of-cooperation-in-space

 

[ecarfan]

Test to Maneuver ISS with Cygnus Spacecraft Didn’t Go as Planned

NASA is currently evaluating the ability of docked Cygnus spacecraft to serve as boosters for the International Space Station, but a recent test of the concept was quickly stopped, for reasons that aren’t yet clear.

The engine firing of Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus NG CRS-17 spacecraft began at 11:20 a.m. ET on Monday, June 20, and it was supposed to last for exactly 5 minutes and 1 second, but NASA called the whole thing off after just 5 seconds, according to an agency press release. Officials with the Cygnus mission said “the cause for the abort is understood and under review,”

NASA desperately needs its own maneuvering capability.

On June 16, a docked Russian Progress 81 spacecraft fired its thrusters for 4 minutes and 34 seconds, in a procedure that provided extra distance from the predicted track of space debris, namely a fragment from the former Russian satellite Cosmos 1408, which Russia deliberately destroyed earlier this year in a brazen anti-satellite weapons test. The crew was apparently “never in any danger,” but without the orbital adjustment, “it was predicted that the fragment could have passed within around a half mile from the station,” according to a NASA press release.

 

[Grendal]

It seems they fixed whatever the issue was.

Cygnus Cargo Craft Fires Engine for Limited Station Reboost

On Saturday, June 25, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus completed its first limited reboost of the International Space Station.

blogs.nasa.gov

 

[ecarfan]

It seems they fixed whatever the issue was.

Cygnus Cargo Craft Fires Engine for Limited Station Reboost

On Saturday, June 25, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus completed its first limited reboost of the International Space Station.

blogs.nasa.gov

That is good news! NASA is going to need that capability in the near future.

 

[ecarfan]

Russia Angers the World With Space Station War Propaganda

three Russian cosmonauts aboard the station posed for pictures holding the flags of the ostensibly free Luhansk People’s Republic and Donetsk People’s Republic, two regions in eastern Ukraine that Russia has seized and, to hear the Kremlin tell it, liberated. NASA was having none of it.

“NASA strongly rebukes Russia using the International Space Station for political purposes to support its war against Ukraine,” the space agency said in an email to reporters, “which is fundamentally inconsistent with the station’s primary function among the 15 international participating countries to advance science and develop technology for peaceful purposes.”

Those, in the delicate parlance of space station diplomacy, were fighting words.

“It is unacceptable that the ISS becomes a platform to play out the political or humanitarian crises happening on the ground,” wrote European Space Agency Administrator Josef Aschbacher in a July 8 tweet. “The purpose of the ISS is to conduct research & prepare us for deeper exploration. It must remain a symbol of peace and inspiration.”

 

[Grendal]

Rogozin is apparently out and Russia is cooperating with NASA.

NASA, Russian space agency sign deal to share space station flights - Roscosmos

NASA and Russia's space agency Roscosmos have signed a long-sought agreement to integrate flights to the International Space Station, allowing Russian cosmonauts to fly on U.S.-made spacecraft in exchange for American astronauts being able to ride on Russia's Soyuz, the agencies said Friday.

www.reuters.com

 

[ecarfan]

Well that is an interesting development. Apparently Putin got tired of Rogozin’s antics and bluster, which surprises me.

In any case, good news for the ISS!

 

[ICUDoc]

Well that is an interesting development. Apparently Putin got tired of Rogozin’s antics and bluster, which surprises me.

In any case, good news for the ISS!

I would rather see Russia isolated and let Spacex sort out the ISS.
They must leave Ukraine.

 

[Grendal]

I would rather see Russia isolated and let Spacex sort out the ISS.
They must leave Ukraine.

Agreed. I'd like that but we probably need to think of the ISS as neutral territory.

 

[EVCollies]

I would rather see Russia isolated and let Spacex sort out the ISS.
They must leave Ukraine.

I agree with isolating Russia as much as possible but even with the raising capabilities of SpaceX ships, doesn't ISS require Russian involvement given the number of Russian modules? Just look at how they overlap Russian and American astronauts to assure adequately training for maintenance and emergencies.

 

[ecarfan]

Recently a Cygnus cargo vehicle demonstrated it could raise the ISS orbit using its thrusters.

While I want the US and the entire rest of the world to completely isolate Russia as punishment for the invasion and resulting atrocities in Ukraine, I don’t know how the US and its other ISS partners could actually bar the Russians from accessing the ISS and only the Russians can maintain and repair their modules, as far as I know.

 

[808?]

Russia to drop out of International Space Station after 2024

Russia's space chief says the country will opt out of the International Space Station after 2024 and focus on building its own orbiting outpost.

apnews.com

 

[ecarfan]

This in now way surprises me. Here’s another report Russia to pull out of International Space Station

 

[Grendal]

This in now way surprises me. Here’s another report Russia to pull out of International Space Station

Interesting take. I agree with the astronaut they interviewed who said that Russia doesn't have the money to go it alone. It does seem more like posturing to appease dictator Putin since the US and our allies are sanctioning everything else related to Russia. As the article mentions, the ISS is designed to force cooperation. It would be significantly more damaging to Russia than America if they did decide to drop out.

To bring the discussion back to SpaceX. In only a year or two more after SpaceX gets Starship working, then doing whatever is necessary to keep the ISS running without Russia involved will be child's play. Even at this point, SpaceX could use a bunch of F9s and FHs launches to get whatever is needed to the ISS. I expect that the realization that it wouldn't really hurt America more than it would hurt Russia will prevent them from leaving. However, Putin hasn't been all that rational about his actions lately - so there's that.

 

[EVCollies]

So many Putin threats have failed to take hold, betting this will be another...

 

[bxr140]

I expect that the realization that it wouldn't really hurt America more than it would hurt Russia will prevent them from leaving.

FWIW, I think this is actually a smart more by Vlad. Its exactly what his supporters want to hear right now--its imperative Putin still gives them the impression he's still a global player and that Ukraine isn't all-consuming. More importantly, he has an out. This statement simply sets him up for a future statement (ideally post-Ukraine, for him) along the lines of "we thought about it, and for the good of the world and despite those backstabbing Americans, we're going to remain part of the ISS (because we're the only country that can save it, or some equivalent hero-based angle) because its good for the citizens of Earth to keep the science the spirit of cooperation alive. And again, despite those dirty politics playing Americans".