When the time comes to kill off the International Space Station, NASA has no plans to replace it. The agency has just made public its intention to assign future developments to private companies and reserve the role of mere user of what in its jargon it calls CLD: “Commercial Destinations in Low Orbit”.
Over time it is wanted that the private initiative be the one that establishes small (or not so small) orbital laboratories, from industrial facilities for the manufacture and processing of materials to the many times dreamed of “space hotels”.
There are already precedents. Space X has been offering its launch services for years, both to NASA and to private companies, and has even put military payloads into orbit subject to serious confidentiality restrictions. Blue Origin has just signed an agreement with NASA to launch a probe to Mars next year, using its new New Glenn superrocket, which has yet to fly.
NASA intends that it be the private initiative that establishes small orbital laboratories. They can be industrial facilities or even the dreamed ‘space hotels’
In 2016, another company —Bigelow Aerospace— sent an inflatable module to the space station, a kind of sphere three meters in diameter attachable to the “Harmony” section of the ISS, the one that always faces Earth. There it goes. Bigelow ceased operations in March 2020, a victim of pandemic restrictions, and ownership of the module passed to NASA, which continues to fund maintenance.
Inflatable structures are not as fragile as they might seem. They are made of a fabric similar to the Kevlar found in bulletproof vests, and their multiple layers offer good radiation protection. There are projects to use them in the construction of small hotels for space tourists. At the moment, docked to the ISS, but in the future, once equipped with power generation systems, they could separate and fly independently.
NASA’s current proposal focuses on the owners of future space stations offering complete services, from astronaut training to their transport into orbit, stay and return to earth. And also, management of what he euphemistically calls “mishaps”: how to respond to unforeseen failures during launch or operations in space, including the participation of NASA personnel in rescue tasks.
In its role as a customer, NASA estimates that it could require between 3,000 and 4,000 man-hours per year to perform, at most, about 230 experiments. That would mean taking some 5 tons of equipment into orbit with a volume equivalent to a small van and returning the processed materials to the ground. Like any client, the agency would cover the costs, but the responsibility for operations would rest with the station owner with supervision by NASA technicians.
NASA estimates between 3,000-4,000 man-hours per year, to carry out a maximum of 230 experiments. That would imply taking 5 tons of equipment into orbit with a volume equivalent to a van.
The requirements document specifies that the habitat must allow people to wear shirtsleeves, a quiet environment to facilitate sleep and relaxation, elimination of odors, an adequate kitchen to prepare hot meals and exercise equipment (essential in microgravity situations). ). And also other details such as that astronauts must have a toothbrush and toothpaste, systems for collecting physiological remains, such as nail or hair clippings; have access to the internet, email, movies, games and digital books. In addition, they must have a private compartment to store personal items: photographs, jewelry (which will later be more appreciated, having “been in space”) and, if necessary, a guitar or saxophone.
It is curious that NASA’s requests do not include an air lock to go outside, although they acknowledge that it would be useful if repairs have to be carried out outside the ship and that some system is required to expose experiments to vacuum and recover them later.
What lies behind this detailed specification is that NASA is well aware of the challenges that the future holds in the not too long term. The ISS is not the only space station; China has its Tiangong, already finished and operational. It is much smaller in size, more like the old Russian Salyut and Mir, but more modern and still open to future expansion.
China has not yet brought astronauts from other countries to its station, although through the UN agency for space affairs it has offered it to host scientific experiments to anyone interested. Some Western companies have already accepted the offer, to the detriment of the capabilities offered by the ISS.
In the future, the use of outer space may be the new scenario in which multi-million dollar projects are generated.
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