Gives us just enough time for Axiom Station to be fully self-sufficient. I am very optimistic about Axiom if for no other reason on the basis of who is running it. The only private company in the world who has a staff who has actually been responsible for successfully building an operational space station.One thing I have been curious about. At the point that Axiom is at the self-sufficient stage, would the the US part of the station be able to operate if the Russian segment was disconnected?
So, there’s no technical or time-restraint reasons now (except maybe political) for Russia not to go through with their original expansion plans for the RS. At the very least, they should open the unused node module’s ports to Russian private use.I would love to see ISS grow to maximum build before it’s decommissioned in 2030.
I'm not sure about this move. How much money could be switched to the Artemis program? Would it speed up the return to the moon? What if Russia want's out, and wants to deorbit their modules?
NASA preps for ISS retirement, commercial stations:https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2022/01/19/nasa-preps-for-iss-retirement--commercial-stations-Quote from: the articleMcAlister said that by retiring the ISS, it should save NASA about $1.5 billion annually. “And in this case, we don’t need any increased appropriations. We’re just using our money smarter,” McAlister said. “And that is going to be a key enabler for our Artemis missions going forward as well as freeing up the personnel resources.”In response to a question from one of the committee members, McAlister said that NASA’s obligation of running the ISS is about $3.5 billion each year. He noted that half a billion of that are activities that NASA will want to continue to do in LEO with or without the Space Station and it will cost about $1 billion to purchase the services they need from a commercial LEO destination.
McAlister said that by retiring the ISS, it should save NASA about $1.5 billion annually. “And in this case, we don’t need any increased appropriations. We’re just using our money smarter,” McAlister said. “And that is going to be a key enabler for our Artemis missions going forward as well as freeing up the personnel resources.”In response to a question from one of the committee members, McAlister said that NASA’s obligation of running the ISS is about $3.5 billion each year. He noted that half a billion of that are activities that NASA will want to continue to do in LEO with or without the Space Station and it will cost about $1 billion to purchase the services they need from a commercial LEO destination.
Quote from: PeterAlt on 01/21/2022 01:48 pmSo, there’s no technical or time-restraint reasons now (except maybe political) for Russia not to go through with their original expansion plans for the RS. At the very least, they should open the unused node module’s ports to Russian private use.I would love to see ISS grow to maximum build before it’s decommissioned in 2030.There is a time-restraint reason; is it worth the cost to prepare and launch modules if the modules are only going to be used for a few years? Nothing is ready to go. Russia may not be able to restart these programs and launch them before 2030, only eight years from now.
Quote from: RonM on 01/21/2022 02:24 pmQuote from: PeterAlt on 01/21/2022 01:48 pmSo, there’s no technical or time-restraint reasons now (except maybe political) for Russia not to go through with their original expansion plans for the RS. At the very least, they should open the unused node module’s ports to Russian private use.I would love to see ISS grow to maximum build before it’s decommissioned in 2030.There is a time-restraint reason; is it worth the cost to prepare and launch modules if the modules are only going to be used for a few years? Nothing is ready to go. Russia may not be able to restart these programs and launch them before 2030, only eight years from now.Russia’s previous plan was to eventually disconnect the newer modules and connect them to the planned independent station. If they were to launch NEM-1 before 2030, it would make sense to detach at least that one module. Since the new station will be in a different orbit, would a Progress be capable of delivering a single module to a new orbit, or would a new vehicle be required to transfer its orbit?
Quote from: PeterAlt on 01/22/2022 09:15 amQuote from: RonM on 01/21/2022 02:24 pmQuote from: PeterAlt on 01/21/2022 01:48 pmSo, there’s no technical or time-restraint reasons now (except maybe political) for Russia not to go through with their original expansion plans for the RS. At the very least, they should open the unused node module’s ports to Russian private use.I would love to see ISS grow to maximum build before it’s decommissioned in 2030.There is a time-restraint reason; is it worth the cost to prepare and launch modules if the modules are only going to be used for a few years? Nothing is ready to go. Russia may not be able to restart these programs and launch them before 2030, only eight years from now.Russia’s previous plan was to eventually disconnect the newer modules and connect them to the planned independent station. If they were to launch NEM-1 before 2030, it would make sense to detach at least that one module. Since the new station will be in a different orbit, would a Progress be capable of delivering a single module to a new orbit, or would a new vehicle be required to transfer its orbit?I'm not an expert on orbital mechanics but based on what others have said it takes a lot of delta V to change orbital plane. I'm guessing it's not practical because the new Russian station ROSS will be in a sun-synchronous orbit. That's a 47 degree change from ISS.
