ISS will die, Mir2 to live?
ISS is scheduled to be taken offline in 2015. To everyone who thinks that is remarkably soon given just how damn long we have spent building the thing, I agree. In actuality, the ISS wont be "complete" until 2011. Which means there will be 4 years with a "complete" station. Even if this is extended to 2020 as expected (assuming that the huge loads of govt. debt dont cause a global economic impolosion), it is still a pretty short lifetime for the completed station.
Turns out, the Russians agree. They are going to take their sections of the ISS, mate them to a new central hub, and use it as their next space station. As they actually have the most experience with space sations, notably the long-lasting Mir, they say they can keep components alive for up to 30 years, and just replace all the internal systems as they fail. I tend to agree with them actually - you've paid the damn launch costs, now use the thing as much as possible. The idea would be to use the base as a launching/staging post for Moon/Mars missions.
The downside is that this totally screws NASA (something the Russians dont seem concerend about) as it is the Russian modules which have all the propulsion, thus leaving the largest manmade object in space to crash... er.. anywhere. One fix to this is use the ESA''s ATV supply ships, which have strong propulsions systems. The problem is they are designed to dock with the Russian modules.
Russia's answer to NASA so far has charitably been: "The ISS is your baby, you figure out what to do once we leave."
Interesting to see what happens here. Of course, my hope is that by that time, there are semi-permanent private space stations, but I would hate to see humanity be left with no outpost in space at all.
Totally gratuitous is this picture of a candle in space vs. a candle on earth. I include it only because I think it is pretty amazing:
Turns out, the Russians agree. They are going to take their sections of the ISS, mate them to a new central hub, and use it as their next space station. As they actually have the most experience with space sations, notably the long-lasting Mir, they say they can keep components alive for up to 30 years, and just replace all the internal systems as they fail. I tend to agree with them actually - you've paid the damn launch costs, now use the thing as much as possible. The idea would be to use the base as a launching/staging post for Moon/Mars missions.
The downside is that this totally screws NASA (something the Russians dont seem concerend about) as it is the Russian modules which have all the propulsion, thus leaving the largest manmade object in space to crash... er.. anywhere. One fix to this is use the ESA''s ATV supply ships, which have strong propulsions systems. The problem is they are designed to dock with the Russian modules.
Russia's answer to NASA so far has charitably been: "The ISS is your baby, you figure out what to do once we leave."
Interesting to see what happens here. Of course, my hope is that by that time, there are semi-permanent private space stations, but I would hate to see humanity be left with no outpost in space at all.
Totally gratuitous is this picture of a candle in space vs. a candle on earth. I include it only because I think it is pretty amazing:
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