International Space Station

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International Space Station
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What is it all about?

• A research facility assembled in orbit arround
  Earth
• Joint project between five space agencies

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  (NASA, United States)
• Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos, Russian
  Federation)
• Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA, Japan)
• Canadian Space Agency (CSA, Canada)
• European Space Agency (ESA, Europe)

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A Continuation of

• the U.S. Space Station Freedom
• The ISS is a merger of Freedom with other
  previously planned space stations.
• projected completion date of 2010
• Largest so far P

• Space Stations
• Russia's Mir 2,
• European Columbus
• and the Japanese Experiment Module

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The Space Analog of Scapto?

• The first resident crew entered the station on
  November 2nd, 2000
• Provides a permanent human presence in space

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Structures and design

• a set of communicating pressurized modules
  connected to a truss
• Powered by the Sun

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Pressurized modules so far

• Modules Launched
• two Russian modules Zarya and Zvezda
• and two US modules Destiny and Node 1.

• Modules to be Launched
• Harmony (Node 2) August 2007
• Columbus Laboratory Module October 2007
• Japanese Experiment Module 2008/2009
• Multipurpose Laboratory Module 2009
• Node 3 and Cupola 2010
• Russian Research Module 2010 or later

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Life Support

• Provides/controls elements such as atmospheric
  pressure, oxygen levels, water, fire
  extinguishing etc.
• The system recycles fluid from the sink, shower,
  urine, and condensation

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The Costs

• An estimated 100-130 billion

• A Ferrari Enzo

• A full Harvard Tuition for four years

• Feed some hungry kids

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Some criticism

• A waste of both time and tax money
• Those money could be spent for solving Earth
  problems
• Actual research has been trivial even compared to
  low expectations
• Requires too much maintenance
• Its highly inclined orbit, means American
  launches need to carry more fuel

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THANK YOU!