AP News reports Russian space officials have acknowledged a continuing air leak from the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS), but say “it poses no danger to its crew.” Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, said the leak and crew are being monitored by specialists.
Full Story (Associated Press)
Tag: ISS
Industry Seeks Resources, Policy Changes to Support ISS Transition
Space News reports “Executives with two companies developing commercial space stations called on NASA and Congress to take fiscal and policy steps to avoid a space station gap they feared could cede leadership in low Earth orbit to China.”
Full Story (Space News)
NASA Previews Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser Demo Mission
Aviation Week reported that NASA has “offered a preview of Sierra Space’s reusable Dream Chaser resupply demonstration mission to the International Space Station (ISS), planned for 2024.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
NASA Celebrating 25th Anniversary of ISS
ABC News reports, “NASA and its astronauts are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the International Space Station being in orbit.” On Wednesday, the agency “broadcast a live conversation between the Expedition 70 crew and NASA Associate Administrator Robert Cabana and Joel Montalbano, space station program manager.” The space station “has been continuously occupied for more than 23 years, ‘testing technologies, performing science, and developing the skills needed to explore farther from Earth,’ NASA said in a press release. According to NASA, the station has been visited by 273 people from 21 countries and has conducted more than 3,300 [investigations].”
Full Story (ABC News)
China Makes Progress on Engine Program for Super Heavy Rocket
Space News reports, “China is progressing with a program to develop full-flow staged-combustion-cycle methane engines to power its reusable Long March 9 super heavy-lift launcher.” Work to develop “engines producing 200 tons of thrust includes progress on overall design and components. Testing includes firing prototype and scaled components such as igniters, gas generators and thrust chambers.”
Full Story (Space News)
Tool Bag Dropped During ISS Spacewalk
CNN reports that NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara “marked their first spacewalk this month with a tool bag floating through space.” The pair “concluded their maintenance work outside the International Space Station (ISS) in six hours and 42 minutes, according to the space agency.” The spacewalk on November 1 “saw Moghbeli and O’Hara complete works on the station’s solar arrays, which track the sun, but they ran out of time to remove and stow a communications electronics box.” Leaving this task “for a future spacewalk, the pair instead conducted an assessment of how the job could be done.” During the mission, a tool bag “gave them the slip and was ‘lost,’ NASA said, with flight controllers spotting it using the ISS’ external cameras.” Fortunately, the tools “were not required for the remainder of their tasks.” According to EarthSky, “a website tracking cosmic events, the tool bag is currently orbiting Earth ahead of the ISS, and can potentially be spotted from Earth with a pair of binoculars during the next few months until it disintegrates in our planet’s atmosphere.”
Full Story (CNN)
Dream Chaser Lifting Body Ready for NASA Delivery Ahead of 2024 Launch
Aviation Week reports that the lifting body concept – “long considered a leading contender for routine and affordable access to space – will finally have a chance to prove itself at full scale when Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser launches into orbit next year.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
NASA Safety Panel Expresses Concerns About ISS Transition Plans
Space News reported that a “NASA safety panel expressed concerns about NASA’s plans to shift from the International Space Station to commercial successors, including funding for an ISS deorbit vehicle.” During its October 26 public meeting, NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel “issued a recommendation calling on NASA to provide a ‘comprehensive understanding’ of the requirements needed to transition from the ISS to commercial space stations, called commercial low Earth orbit (LEO) destinations, or CLDs, by the agency.” David West, a member of the panel, said, “NASA should develop a comprehensive understanding of the resources and timelines of the ISS-to-commercial-LEO transition plan to a much higher level of fidelity, to provide confidence that the nation will be able to sustain a continuous human presence in LEO.” West added that plan “should include ‘explicit defensible assumptions’ as well as specific metrics and deadlines for judging the progress by companies in developing a commercial business case for their stations ‘and is sufficient to support the development, production and operation of one or more commercial platforms to replace the ISS.’”
Full Story (Space News)
Cosmonauts Find Radiator Coolant Leak on ISS During Spacewalk
Spaceflight Now reports that two Russian spacewalkers “floated outside the International Space Station Wednesday and isolated a leaking radiator as planned, apparently causing residual coolant still trapped inside to make its way to the leak site and spew out into space.” Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko “planned to sop up the pooling coolant with a cloth towel, but was told to leave the area immediately when he reported some of the liquid had made it onto a safety tether.” The tether “was secured in a bag and procedures were already in place to make sure the cosmonauts’ spacesuits were clear of any such contamination before they re-entered the space station at the end of the spacewalk.” In the meantime, Kononenko and crewmate Nikolai Chub “pressed ahead with work to attach a small synthetic aperture radar antenna to the hull of the Nauka module.” One of its four panels “failed to fully deploy and lock in place, and officials said adjustments would be made in a future spacewalk.” Finally, Kononenko and Chub “released a small student-built ‘nanosatellite,’ but the solar sail propulsion system it was designed to test failed to deploy.” After making a final attempt “to coax the balky radar panel into place, the cosmonauts called it a day.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)
NASA, ISS National Lab, and AIAA Team Up for Live Space Station Downlink at 2023 ASCEND
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 18, 2023 – Reston, Va. – The world’s premier outcomes-focused, interdisciplinary space gathering – 2023 ASCEND – will hear directly from the crew onboard the International Space Station (ISS). Each year in Las Vegas, ASCEND brings together space industry professionals, students, and enthusiasts to accelerate building our off-world future.
On Monday morning, 23 October, the event will open with a unique session entitled, “From Dreaming to Doing: Utilizing Creativity and Imagination to Accelerate our Off-World Future,” moderated by Kara Cunzeman, director of Strategic Foresight, The Aerospace Corporation, and ASCEND Guiding Coalition member. The speakers will explore what it means to create and inspire, and why systematic thinking about the future is essential for building humanity’s sustainable off-world future.
During that exciting session, the conference will receive a special call from space, as NASA astronauts Loral O’Hara and Jasmin Moghbeli join ASCEND live from the International Space Station. Cunzeman will lead a discussion with the astronauts on the importance of space exploration, improving diversity in STEM fields, and ways to build our sustainable off-world future through collaboration.
For those planning to attend 2023 ASCEND, the opening session and downlink conversation are set to begin at 0800 hrs PT in the Summit Ballroom, Caesars Forum, Las Vegas. The panelists may be available for potential interviews from media attending the event. Please contact Rebecca Gray, AIAA Director of Communications, at [email protected] to coordinate.
Media Contacts
AIAA: Rebecca Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell
ISS National Lab: Patrick O’Neill, [email protected]
About the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory: The International Space Station (ISS) is a one-of-a-kind laboratory that enables research and technology development not possible on Earth. As a public service enterprise, the ISS National Lab allows researchers to leverage this multiuser facility to improve life on Earth, mature space-based business models, advance science literacy in the future workforce, and expand a sustainable and scalable market in low Earth orbit. Through this orbiting national laboratory, research resources on the ISS are available to support non-NASA science, technology and education initiatives from U.S. government agencies, academic institutions, and the private sector. The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) manages the ISS National Lab, under cooperative agreement with NASA, facilitating access to its permanent microgravity research environment, a powerful vantage point in low Earth orbit, and the extreme and varied conditions of space. To learn more about the ISS National Lab, visit www.issnationallab.org.
About ASCEND
Powered by AIAA, ASCEND, which stands for Accelerating Space Commerce, Exploration, and New Discovery, is the world’s premier collaborative, outcomes-driven, interdisciplinary community designed to accelerate the building of our off-world future. For more information, visit ascend.events, or follow ASCEND on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.
About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, or follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.