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W7WXV > SPACE 06.03.22 18:55l 85 Lines 3074 Bytes #999 (0) @ USA
BID : 6057_W7WXV
Read: GUEST
Subj: NASA Eploring Ways to Keep ISS in Orbit
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W7WXV
Sent: 220306/1622Z 6057@W7WXV.#COR.OR.USA.NOAM BPQ6.0.22
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Exerpt from Shortwave Radiogram - March 6, 2022
>From Phys.org:
NASA exploring ways to keep ISS afloat without Russian help:
official
February 28, 2022
The International Space Station (ISS) is seen on a monitor after
a Soyuz MS-20 space craft undocked from the ISS, starting the
landing of the International space crew including Japanese space
tourists.
NASA is exploring ways to keep the International Space Station
in orbit without Russian help, but doesn't see any immediate
signs Moscow is withdrawing from the collaboration following the
invasion of Ukraine, a senior official said Monday.
Kathy Lueders, who heads the agency's human spaceflight program,
told reporters on a call that operations on the research
platform were proceeding "nominally" and "we're not getting any
indications at a working level that our counterparts are not
committed."
"That said, we always look for how do we get more operational
flexibility and our cargo providers are looking at how do we add
different capabilities," she continued.
While the US side of the ISS supplies power and life support,
Russia is responsible for propulsion and keeping the station
afloat: it does this by using docked Progress spacecraft to
periodically give the station a boost to maintain its altitude,
approximately 250 miles (400 kilometers) high.
Last week, though, Russia's space chief Dmitry Rogozin raised
the prospect of pulling out of the partnership in response to US
sanctions, allowing the 400 ton structure to come crashing down
to Earth while most likely avoiding his country, since its orbit
doesn't fly much over it.
Lueders said: "Northrop Grumman has been offering up a reboost
capability, and you know, our SpaceX folks are looking at can we
have additional capability."
The last Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo vessel that arrived at
the ISS on February 21 was the first to boast a capacity to
"reboost" the outpost without Russian help.
On Friday, SpaceX boss Elon Musk tweeted his company's logo in
response to Rogozin's rhetorical question about who would save
the ISS from an uncontrolled de-orbit.
But Lueders stressed that such plans were a contingency measure
only.
"It would be very difficult for us to be operating on our
own-ISS is an international partnership that was created...with
joint dependencies," she said.
"As a team, we are looking at where we may have operational
flexibilities, but... it would be a sad day for international
operations if we can't continue to peacefully operate in space,"
she concluded.
A symbol of post Cold War detente, the ISS has been continuously
habited for more than 21 years and has weathered past
geopolitical storms, notably Russia's invasion of Crimea in
2014. But some observers believe the invasion of Ukraine could
hasten the demise of US-Russian space cooperation.
https://phys.org/news/2022-02-nasa-exploring-ways-iss-afloat.html
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