Tag: ISS

NASA Looks to Develop a ‘Deorbit Tug’ to Bring ISS in Controlled Destruction in 2030

SPACE reports that NASA is looking “to develop a spacecraft capable of steering the International Space Station (ISS) to a controlled destruction in Earth’s atmosphere when its time in orbit is up.” The plans were revealed when NASA’s $27.2 billion allocation included $180 million “to initiate development of a new space tug” that could safely “deorbit the ISS over the open ocean after its operational life ends in 2030, as well as potentially perform other activities.” NASA’s human spaceflight chief Kathy Lueders said the cost estimate was just under $1 billion and added, “Our goal is to go out with an RFP [request for proposals], and then, obviously, when we get the proposals, then we’re hoping to get a better price than that. But this gives us a healthy start in ‘24 to get that critical capability onboard.”airplanes.”
Full Story (SPACE)

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 Mission Nearly Over

Aviation Week reports that NASA’s four-person Crew-5 Dragon crew is “scheduled to depart the International Space Station (ISS) early March 11 for a splashdown in the ocean waters off the Florida peninsula at 9:19 p.m. EST, to bring a more than five-month mission to a close.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

 

 Video
Crew-5 Mission | Undocking

SpaceX and NASA are targeting no earlier than Saturday, March 11 at 2:05 a.m. ET for Dragon to autonomously undock from the ISS.
(SpaceX; YouTube)

ISS Adjusts Orbit to Avoid Collision

Space News reports that the International Space Station “adjusted its orbit March 6 to avoid a close approach by an imaging satellite operated by Satellogic, the latest evidence of growing congestion in low Earth orbit.” A March 6 blog post from NASA said “that the Progress MS-22 spacecraft docked to the station fired its thrusters for a little more than six minutes, raising the station’s orbit to move out of the way of what the agency called an Earth observation satellite.” The satellite would have passed within 3 kilometers of the ISS without the maneuver.
Full Story (Space News)

Russian Spacecraft Leak Caused by External Impact

The AP reports that Roscosmos said a coolant leak “from an uncrewed Russian supply ship docked at the International Space Station resulted from an external impact and not a manufacturing flaw.” The leak was spotted on the Progress MS-21 cargo ship on February 11, and came after a similar leak from a Soyuz capsule last December. Russian space officials “said that December’s leak was caused by a tiny meteoroid that left a small hole in the exterior radiator and sent coolant spewing into space.” The new leak “from another ship raised doubts about that theory, and Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos launched a probe into the incident to check whether it could have resulted from a manufacturing defect.”
More Info (Associated Press)

ISS National Lab Looks for Projects

Aviation Week reports that demand for conducting experiments “on board the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory remains strong after 75 payloads were sent to the orbiting platform last year.” The laboratory, “which hosts non-NASA experiments, is looking for its next crop of in-space projects.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

Airbus Partners With Nanoracks for Commercial Space Station

Aviation Week reports that Europe’s Airbus Defense and Space “is joining a U.S. partnership led by Voyager Space-owned Nanoracks to develop and operate a commercial space station in low Earth orbit (LEO), one of four NASA-backed projects vying to host government research and commercial ventures after the International Space Station” is transitioned away from.
Full Story (Aviation Week)

Astronauts Install Hardware on Outside of ISS

CNN reports, “First-time spacewalkers and NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Frank Rubio began their excursion outside the space station at 9:14 a.m. ET and ended at 4:25 p.m. ET, lasting for 7 hours and 11 minutes.” The purpose of the excursion was to assemble a mounting bracket on the space station’s starboard side, which will allow for more rollout solar arrays (iROSAs), which will increase the power to the space station. “The first two rollout solar arrays were installed outside the station in June 2021. Six iROSAs total have been planned and will likely boost the space station’s power generation by more than 30% once all are operational.”
Full Story (CNN)

ISS Adjusts Course to Avoid Russian Space Debris

CNN reports that NASA said the ISS fired its thrusters for five minutes and five seconds to avoid a Russian satellite destroyed by a missile strike in a weapons test last year. “Officials at NASA have previously warned about the risks of the proliferation of debris in space, caused by a dramatic increase in the number of satellites in orbit and several instances of governments intentionally destroying satellites and creating new plumes of junk.”
Full Story (CNN)

Blackhawk Aerospace Sees Retrofits as the Future with PC-12 Expected to be Certified Soon

Aviation Week reports, “Aftermarket engine upgrade specialist Blackhawk Aerospace is developing a retrofit for the Daher TBM 700 turboprop single as it begins flight tests of its latest improvement project – a Pilatus PC-12 configured with the Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) PT6A-67P.” The modification specialist company said the PC-12 is expected to receive certification from the FAA in the second quarter of 2023, followed by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) shortly thereafter.
Full Story (Aviation Week)