SANTA FE, N.M. — A NASA examine examined a number of choices for persevering with a nationwide laboratory in low Earth orbit after the Worldwide Area Station however stopped in need of recommending a particular possibility.
The examine by the company’s Workplace of Expertise, Coverage and Technique, launched by NASA Dec. 20, represents what it calls an “preliminary evaluation” of fashions for a future nationwide lab in low Earth orbit (LEO) after retirement of the ISS. The examine was directed by the Nationwide Area Council at its September 2022 assembly and launched to coincide with the council’s most up-to-date assembly Dec. 20.
The 154-page report reviewed approaches to switch the Worldwide Area Station Nationwide Laboratory, the formal identify given to the 50% of U.S. sources on the ISS put aside as a nationwide lab. That lab is administrated by the Heart for the Development of Science in Area (CASIS), a non-profit group, underneath an settlement with NASA.
The examine reviewed six fashions for a future nationwide lab that may use amenities on business area stations — referred to as business LEO locations or CLDs by NASA — or different spacecraft. These fashions provided extensive ranges in roles the federal government would play, with NASA leasing devoted area on a business station at one excessive and the company offering grants to customers who would lease amenities on CLDs on their very own on the different.
The examine assessed the six fashions utilizing 5 standards, from skill to fulfill NASA must fairness and accessibility, and utilizing three eventualities of dynamic, regular and restricted development in total business LEO actions. The examine didn’t explicitly take into account the price of the varied choices.
The mannequin that scored the perfect, when it comes to being favorable throughout all market eventualities, was one referred to as “Authorities Analysis Dealer” the place NASA serves as a dealer for arranging flights of experiments on CLDs or different business spacecraft, an strategy the examine in comparison with NASA’s Launch Companies Program for buying launches.
“The Authorities Analysis Dealer gives a dependable possibility for NASA to proceed actions in LEO in any future situation, assembly the wants of all however one of many stakeholder-driven efficiency standards,” the report acknowledged. The exception was an element referred to as market sustainability, as a result of the mannequin may compete with CLD suppliers in some facets.
Nevertheless, the report stopped in need of recommending that mannequin, or every other, for a future LEO nationwide laboratory, noting that facets of the fashions is perhaps mixed as NASA continues improvement of a method. “The report concludes that nobody mannequin by itself represents a whole technique for a future nationwide laboratory,” it states.
In extra to evaluating fashions for a future nationwide lab, the report gives some suggestions on how NASA and CASIS can help a transition from the present ISS Nationwide Laboratory. NASA and CASIS may work with non-public firms to accumulate area on modules or spacecraft earlier than the retirement of the ISS in addition to purchase knowledge instantly from business suppliers.
The shift from the ISS Nationwide Laboratory to any future mannequin involving business area stations would require legislative modifications. A 2005 NASA authorization act established a nationwide lab utilizing ISS sources, with a 2010 act formally allocating no less than half of U.S. sources on the ISS for the lab, a requirement the report famous is “overly restrictive” notably in a post-ISS atmosphere.
The report provides that there could not explicitly be a nationwide laboratory in LEO as soon as the ISS is retired, relying on the mannequin chosen for supporting analysis in LEO. “The Nationwide Laboratory nomenclature could also be fully faraway from laws, or the intent of a Nationwide Laboratory could transition to a brand new mannequin in a post-ISS LEO ecosystem that lacks a government-owned platform,” it states.
