The European Columbus Programme

This paper describes the current status of the COLUMBUS Programme, Europe's contribution to the U.S. Space Station, which is being studied under contract to the European Space Agency. Twelve European nations are involved in and are contributing to this new space undertaking. The elements of the COLUMBUS Space Segment presently being considered by ESA are a Pressurized Laboratory Module (4 segment), permanently attached to the U.S. Space Station, dedicated to materials science, fluid physics and compatible life sciences, and a Polar Platform, configured to accommodate Earth observation, meteorology, communications and space science payloads. The reference launch vehicles are the Space Shuttle for the attached Module and Ariane 5 for the Polar Platform. The more recently added COLUMBUS flight configuration, the Man-Tended Free Flyer (MTFF), consists of a combination of two programme elements, the Resource Module and a 2-segment Pressurized Module. It is designed to provide all required resources and services to the various payloads in a continuous microgravity environment to perform material science, fluid physics and compatible life sciences experiments. The MTFF is carried into orbit by the European launcher Ariane 5. As an option, studies of an enhanced ground based EURECA carrier as a small co-orbiting platform, launched by the Space Shuttle, will be initiated. The primary function would be to accommodate space science and/or micro-g payloads. These EURECA studies are performed currently outside the COLUMBUS programme scope, and this option is therefore not addressed in detail in this paper.     

The Japanese Experiment Module

This paper describes Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) which is a Japanese contribution to International Space Station (SS) Program. First half of phase B study of JEM was completed last March successfully. JEM primary function and basic configuration has been established. JEM consists of a Pressurized Module (PM), an Exposed Facility (EF), a scientific/equipment airlock, a local remote manipulator, and an Experimental Logistic Module (ELM). With all those hardware elements, JEM will accommodate general scientific and technology development research (some of which are to utilize the advantage of microgravity environment), and also accommodate control panels for the Space Station Mobile Remote Manipulator System and attached payloads.     

国际空间站有效载荷安全性认证工作探讨

通过介绍NASA针对航天飞机、国际空间站等航天器上有效载荷安全性认证方面的组织机构及其职责、需开展认证的有效栽荷及其分类、典型有效载荷的安全性技术要求、有效载荷安全性认证工作流程等方面的内容,提出我国空间站工程在有效载荷安全性认证方面开展相关工作的启示和建议,为后续空间站载荷开展上站认证、确保载荷在轨安全及空间站平台安全提供参考。     

Channelization: the two-fault tolerant attitude control functionfor the Space Station Freedom

The Space Station Freedom was, from the mid-1980's through 1993, the design for an international orbiting laboratory facility. The Space Station Freedom was comprised of “utility” systems, such as power generation and distribution, thermal management, and data processing, and “user” systems such as communication and tracking, propulsion, payload support, and guidance, navigation, and control. These systems are required to work together to provide various station functions. To protect the lives onboard and the investment in the station, the systems and their connectivity had to be designed to continue to support critical functions after any single fault for early assembly stages, and after any two faults for later stages. Of these critical functions, attitude control was the most global, incorporating equipment from nearly all major systems. The challenge was to develop an architecture, or integration, of these systems that would achieve the specified level of fault tolerant attitude control and operate, autonomously, for the three-month unmanned periods during the assembly process. Additionally, this architecture had to maintain the desired utility of the station for each stage of the assembly process. This paper discusses the approach developed for integrating the systems such that the fault tolerance requirements were met for all stages of assembly. Some of the key integration issues are examined and the role of analysis tools are described. The resultant design was a highly channelized one, and the reasons and the benefits of this design will be explored. The final design was accepted by the Space Station Control Board as the design baseline in July 1992     

International Space Station power storage upgrade planned

As the Earth-orbit International Space Station (ISS) grows, it needs more power which is generated by solar panels. For periods in which the planet Earth occults sunlight, energy is stored in the biggest set of batteries ever flown in space. Reliability of power is important in a space station because a failure requires costly launch of replacement components. Even greater importance results when astronauts work in the station. A power failure that causes the astronauts to perish would be a very serious event. The first battery-containing "integrated equipment module" was launched November 30, 2000 and installed on port 6 of the International Space Station. Two more modules will be launched by the United States; to be launched in 2004 is the European Space Agency's "attached COLUMBUS APM laboratory," which will have its own power system. Unexpected battery-related events occurred in the integrated equipment module during its first year-and-a-half in orbit. The problems and their solutions were described in papers presented at the 37/sup th/ Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference. Since the International Space Station carries more battery cells than any other spacecraft, the in-flight performance data from its battery assembly can be useful to engineers who design power supplies for other spacecraft. We, therefore, summarize the battery development process, the adopted design, and an unexpected in-flight battery degradation and its correction.     

Life sciences

Space life sciences research activities are reviewed for 2003. Many life sciences experiments were lost with the tragic loss of STS-107. Life sciences experiments continue to fly as small payloads to the International Space Station (ISS) via the Russian Progress vehicle. Health-related studies continue with the Martian Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE) aboard the Odyssey spacecraft, collecting data on the radiation environment in Mars orbit. NASA Ames increased nanotechnology research in all areas, including fundamental biology, bioastronautics, life support systems, and homeland security. Plant research efforts continued at NASA Kennedy, testing candidate crops for ISS. Research included plant growth studies at different light intensities, varying carbon dioxide concentrations, and different growth media. Education and outreach efforts included development of a NASA/USDA program called Space Agriculture in the Classroom. Canada sponsored a project called Tomatosphere, with classrooms across North America exposing seeds to simulated Mars environment for growth studies. NASA's Office of Biological and Physical Research released an updated strategic research plan.     

Mir: a health report

The current equipment and safety status of the Russian space station Mir is discussed. Mir has operated past its expected life expectancy and has been having an increasing number of equipment failures and problems. The Russian system of addressing equipment repairs and maintenance is examined along with implications for the future International Space Station.     

Repair of Salyut 7

The Soviet Union's mission to rendezvous with and repair the Salyut 7 Space Station, which had gotten out of control, is described. This was the Soviets' first attempt to dock with an uncontrolled object, and some of their instruments were being used for the first time. Both the equipment and the procedures used are detailed     

Energy management onboard the Space Station-a rule-based approach

The logic and the schedule for a rule-based optimization technique useful for energy management onboard the Space Station are presented. A diverse array of experiments is scheduled within the constraints of limited solar energy and battery storage availability, taking into account the uneven energy supply between the sunshine and eclipse periods and the occasional need to serve a peak load and the full battery charging load simultaneously. In addition, the noninterruptible and nonrestartable nature of many experiments has to be accounted for in the schedule. These factors have been accounted for by using various time intervals and priority weighting factors. Supply/demand windows of various durations are tested for the typical load profile. This shows under what circumstances fewer scheduling tasks are needed and how a closer match between the supply and demand can be obtained. The optimal supply/demand is expressed in terms of the excess and shortage of electricity, the peak load, and the time displacement of the individual payloads. This technique is implemented using Prolog and Fortran     

Intelligent control of a planning system for astronaut training

This work intends to design, analyze and solve, from the systems control perspective, a complex, dynamic, and multiconstrained planning system for generating training plans for crew members of the NASA-led International Space Station. Various intelligent planning systems have been developed within the framework of artificial intelligence. These planning systems generally lack a rigorous mathematical formalism to allow a reliable and flexible methodology for their design, modeling, and performance analysis in a dynamical, time-critical, and multiconstrained environment. Formulating the planning problem in the domain of discrete-event systems under a unified framework such that it can be modeled, designed, and analyzed as a control system will provide a self-contained theory for such planning systems. This will also provide a means to certify various planning systems for operations in the dynamical and complex environments in space. The work presented here completes the design, development, and analysis of an intricate, large-scale, and representative mathematical formulation for intelligent control of a real planning system for Space Station crew training. This planning system has been tested and used at NASA-Johnson Space Center     

Decisions, endings, and new beginnings

The Washington Watch column examines NASA shuttle developments, airline pilot age issues, development of a personnel recovery vehicle, and includes an obituary for retired Air Force General Bernard Schriever, remembered as an air and space pioneer. The discussion of NASA shuttle developments reports on the space shuttle flight schedule and NASA's ability to deliver hardware to the International Space Station, funding levels and equipment development schedules related to President Bush's mandate to visit Mars, a report on the space program by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and top-level management changes at NASA. The discussion of airline pilot age issues examines efforts to change mandatory retirement requirements. The discussion of personnel recovery vehicles reports on development of an aircraft designed to rescue survivors during combat search and rescue missions.     

空间站微重力环境研究与分析

太空中的微重力环境对基础科学研究和新技术开发具有重要意义,为了满足未来我国空间站开展微重力科学实验的需求,需要对空间站上的微重力水平进行分析和评估,指导高微重力要求实验载荷的布局和微重力实验期间的飞行任务规划。空间站上的微重力水平用加速度值度量,通常可以分为准稳态加速度、瞬态加速度和振动加速度。针对此问题调研总结了国际空间站的微重力研究情况,并以400 km轨道高度上100吨级"T"字型积木式空间站作为算例,估算其准稳态加速度大小及分布,并初步分析瞬态加速度水平的量级。结果表明,空间站准稳态加速度水平在1μgn量级,主要贡献来自重力梯度效应;瞬态加速度可达103μgn量级。文章对将来我国空间站微重力应用支持的设计工作有一定的借鉴意义。     

CRV investment offers safe return

The development and testing of a new emergency Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) prototype is discussed. The new CRV is being developed by NASA and ESA and is designed for use on the International Space Station as a supplement to the Soyuz ships of the Russians, which accommodate only three passengers. The new vehicle will provide a shirt-sleeve environment for up to six astronauts and will allow for emergency medical treatment to be provided.     

Engineering test beds on the International Space Station

The International Space Station is a unique multi-faceted orbiting laboratory supporting research, development, test and evaluation of new innovative space and Earth-based applications. While NASA sponsored investigations on the ISS are focused largely on enabling future long duration human space exploration missions, Congress designated the US portion of the space station as a National Laboratory making its facilities available to other Federal agencies and private entities for non-exploration related ventures. RDT&E activities on the ISS encompass a number of technical areas including environmental control and life support, communications, materials science, guidance, navigation and control, propulsion, electrical power, and thermal control systems.     

The STRV family of spacecraft

In 1990, the Space Department of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) initiated the Space Technology Research Vehicle (STRV) programme. The aim was to design, build, test and launch a relatively low-cost satellite weighing only 50kg and carrying a variety of experimental payloads derived primarily from MoD-sponsored research within the Department. What is the status of this programme 10 years later?     

Multibody dynamics and robust control of flexible spacecraft

The paper focuses on an approach to the study of the dynamics and control of large flexible space structures, comprised of subassemblies, a subject of considerable contemporary interest. To begin with, a relatively general Lagrangian formulation of the problem is presented. The governing equations are nonlinear, nonautonomous, coupled, and extremely lengthy even in matrix notation. Next, an efficient computer code is developed and the versatility of the program illustrated through a dynamical study of the first element launch (FEL) configuration of the Space Station Freedom, now superseded by the International Space Station. Finally, robust control of the rigid body motion of the FEL configuration using both the linear-quadratic-Gaussian/loop transfer recovery (LQG/LTR) and H_∞ procedures is demonstrated. The controllers designed using the simplified linear models, prove to be effective in regulating librational disturbances. Such a global approach-formulation numerical code, dynamics, and control-is indeed rare. It can serve as a powerful tool to gain comprehensive understanding of dynamical interactions and thus aid in the development of an effective and efficient control system     

Developing better artificial bones

Researchers at the Center for Commercial Applications of Combustion in Space at the Colorado School of Mines are preparing the Space-DRUMS (Dynamically Responding Ultrasonic Matrix Systems) materials processing facility for transport to the International Space Station. The Space-DRUMS uses acoustic pressure beams to maintain the position of a suspended liquid or solid. Space-DRUMS will be used to extend experiments with tricalcium phosphate in the development of artificial bone material.     

Astronaut-induced disturbances to the microgravity environment of the Mir Space Station

In preparation for the International Space Station, the Enhanced Dynamic Load Sensors Space Flight Experiment measured the forces and moments astronauts exerted on the Mir Space Station during their daily on-orbit activities to quantify the astronaut-induced disturbances to the microgravity environment during a long-duration space mission. An examination of video recordings of the astronauts moving in the modules and using the instrumented crew restraint and mobility load sensors led to the identification of several typical astronaut motions and the quantification of the associated forces and moments exerted on the spacecraft. For 2806 disturbances recorded by the foot restraints and hand-hold sensor, the highest force magnitude was 137 N. For about 96% of the time, the maximum force magnitude was below 60 N, and for about 99% of the time the maximum force magnitude was below 90 N. For 95% of the astronaut motions, the rms force level was below 9.0 N. It can be concluded that expected astronaut-induced loads from usual intravehicular activity are considerably less than previously thought and will not significantly disturb the microgravity environment.