International Space Station hole - part number two

originally posted by: toms54
a reply to: toms54

Serena M. Aunon

Does she look like the type of Woman who would leave a doo doo in the capsule?

a reply to: Village Idiot

I think she is wearing a diaper right now in space.

It's clear that, the extension of ISS operation in its current form is not automatically guaranteed for the period after 2020.

The point is , whether it is worth for the Russians to continue to operate the ISS, given its old age !
Moreover , considering the ongoing global transition towards Asia, it makes more sense for the Russians to leave the ISS and start working on other projects with China for example!

That said , nothing prevents the US and the EU to continue using the Soyuz capsule, at the same competitive price, for launching their astronauts to the ISS if they intend to keep it operational !
It might be even possible to have a fully US-EU crew on each Soyuz launch to ISS starting from 2020. May take some more training for the EU or US capsule commander ... but the rest would stay the same !

Does it make really that much sense for Russia to be still part of the ISS program ? Rather, the focus should be on a GRU-FSB led 'reform' of Roscosmos and re-orientation to serious stuff, with heavy launchers, Space-based nuclear reactors (which the US is already busy working on ) etc... etc ... In short, stop playing with 20th century toys, and move to a 21st century space program, as the US Air Force is already trying to do since 2011, with the X-37.

I am not sure who sees the point of sending research materials on a 20yo space station, in which holes mysteriously appear or in which antenna's amplifiers don't work ... etc. etc.. etc...

... Moreover it might be even possible to go further ! The current modules known as "Russian segment" are outdated technology designed largely during the 80s ! It makes almost no sense in re-using the Russian segment for a new Russian space station due to its overwhelming technical debt and obsolescence. Considering that, nonetheless, in the current situation , the US congress and the EU has approved the extension of the ISS operation , it means they still see fit to use the station for longer time !

Wouldn't it be wise to handover the ownership of the Russian segment to the NASA and ESA partnership for free ... Also provide astronauts training , on how to operate the Russian segment , for a regular training fee !

What are we getting out of it? Materials research? Research on the effect of zero-G on the human body? Does that really affect my life in any way? What products am I using right now that are a directly result of space station research, and could they have been developed on Earth?