The International Space Station

The International Space Station is the largest and most complex international scientific project in history. It is not yet complete, but will be more than four times larger than the Russian Mir Space Station. It draws upon the scientific and technological resources of 16 nations: The USA, Canada, Japan, Russia, Brazil and 11 nations of the European Space Agency.

The station orbits at an altitude of 250 miles at an inclination of 51.6 degrees, allowing it to be reached by the launch vehicles of all the international partners. It also allows excellent Earth observations with coverage of 85% of the globe and overflight of 95% of the population.

Research is undertaken on board the ISS in a variety of fascinating fields. Protein crystals grown in space are purer than those grown on earth, and these are examined to help understand the nature of proteins, enzymes and viruses. Living tissue cells can also be grown in this environment without the constraints of strong gravity, which can distort them. These are just a couple of examples of space research on the ISS.

U.S. Role and Contributions

The United States has the responsibility for developing and ultimately operating major elements and systems aboard the station. The U.S. elements include three connecting modules, or nodes; a laboratory module; truss segments; four solar arrays; a habitation module; three mating adapters; a cupola; an unpressurized logistics carrier and a centrifuge module. The various systems being developed by the U.S. include thermal control; life support; guidance, navigation and control; data handling; power systems; communications and tracking; ground operations facilities and launch-site processing facilities.


International Contributions

The international partners, Canada, Japan, the European Space Agency, and Russia, will contribute the following key elements to the International Space Station:

· Canada is providing a 55-foot-long robotic arm to be used for assembly and maintenance tasks on the Space Station.

· The European Space Agency is building a pressurized laboratory to be launched on the Space Shuttle and logistics transport vehicles to be launched on the Ariane 5 launch vehicle.

· Japan is building a laboratory with an attached exposed exterior platform for experiments as well as logistics transport vehicles.

· Russia is providing two research modules; an early living quarters called the Service Module with its own life support and habitation systems; a science power platform of solar arrays that can supply about 20 kilowatts of electrical power; logistics transport vehicles; and Soyuz spacecraft for crew return and transfer.

In addition, Brazil and Italy are contributing some equipment to the station through agreements with the United States.


An artist's conception: The International Space Station as it will look when completed. [NASA Graphic]




Sunset over the Pacific Ocean as seen from the International Space Station (Expedition 7) on 21 July 2003.

Mars lander :-)

If it were possible, would you ever consider going to Mars someday and having a look around? I think I would if we could address the gravity issue in the ships so we could walk around normally like you see on Star Trek, but going the way it would be now with the 0 gravity would not be much fun I don't think. I'm not even sure if the gravity issue can be scientifically artificially reproduced or not, in all actuality, it might not be possible to do, ever. And I'm always the first to say never say "never" but it just might go against the laws of nature to create an artificial gravity in space. Gee I hope not.

With Technology and Science growing as fast as it is I don't see why Humans doing Deep Space travel couldn't happen some day but it most certanily won't happen during the life time of anyone currently living. I'm confident that it will happen though and it's a damn shame that I won't be alive to experience it. Shoot I'd give my legs to be able to explore our Inner Space, (The Oceans( but allas, that's not going to happen either.

Creating artificial gravity using centrifugal force is relatively low tech and has been known for a long time.

I guess the astronauts still piss in a jar becuase the toilets are too easy..

runawayhorses wrote:

If it were possible, would you ever consider going to Mars someday and having a look around? I think I would if we could address the gravity issue in the ships so we could walk around normally like you see on Star Trek, but going the way it would be now with the 0 gravity would not be much fun I don't think. I'm not even sure if the gravity issue can be scientifically artificially reproduced or not, in all actuality, it might not be possible to do, ever. And I'm always the first to say never say "never" but it just might go against the laws of nature to create an artificial gravity in space. Gee I hope not.

I would, but I ain't gonna be around a whole lot longer anyway. As for the gravity issue......A lot of testing has been done. It seems that the inner ear is so extremely sensitive, that the slight difference in centrifugal force between your feet and your head causes problems even when the radius about which the movement takes place is many feet. The concepts I have seen usually show a capsule orbiting a central space ship at about 200 feet radius. Viz: The astronauts would have to enter the capsule and stay there for any long term flight and could only travel back to the main ship for short periods of time. Food,water,etc., could be transferred robotically to the astronauts but one can still see forminadable logistical problems with that.Any such "space walk" would immediately cause the whole assembly to wobble unless thrusters were used to offset the imbalance. This operation would be very fuel consumptive. Also, in order to maintain straight line space flight, this capsule would have to be counter-balanced by an equal weight orbiting at an equal distance at the opposite side of the orbital path. This weight could be fuel,water, and supplies needed for the return flight,but there are still vexing problems. As those supplies are used, the tethering device for that capsule would have to be gradually extended in order to achieve and maintain centrifugal balance. Also, the tethering device would have to be much,much more than a simple cable if materials are to be transferred within it or by it. Another possibility would be to have the astronaut capsule and the main ship orbit around a central point with an orbital diameter of 400 feet. The complex tethering device itself would be a significant adddition to the overall payload. At present, these problems have no solution.

Very interesting, well, it would seem we have a long way to go before we can entertain the possibility of gravity within a spaceship, we simply don't know how to do it yet without the problems you mentioned. I won't be around either when/if they ever figure it out, but it seems reasonable to assume that one day long after we are gone, they will find a solution. I commend you on your knowledge on this issue.

Good post Moon.