They met in Paris, they talked, and they agreed. The heads of the International Space Station (ISS) agencies got together to discuss and review ISS cooperation. They came from Canada, Europe, Japan, Russia and the United States and met at European Space Agency (ESA) Headquarters in Paris, and noted that the capabilities of the ISS have significantly expanded. The ISS now provides for on-orbit research and technology development activities and serves as an engineering test bed for flight systems and operations that are critical to future space exploration initiatives. The experts agree that these activities improve the quality of life on Earth by expanding the frontiers of human knowledge.
The Heads of Agency also noted the Partners’ significant accomplishments since their last meeting in January 2007, including; the delivery of Node 2 (Harmony); two new laboratories (the ESA Columbus Module and the Japanese Experiment Module Kibo); and Dextre, Canada’s two-armed special purpose dexterous manipulator. In addition to the completion of six challenging ISS assembly missions with the U.S. Space Shuttle, the Heads of Agency recognized; the maiden flight of the European Automated Transfer Vehicle; the establishment of the global ISS ground operation control center network with the addition of new European and Japanese ISS operations centers; and the successful flights of Russian Soyuz and Progress vehicles. The Partners also emphasized the critical importance of expanded operations of Russian Soyuz and Progress vehicles for ISS total crew transportation, rescue and cargo delivery.
The ISS heads reviewed current ISS development, configuration and operations activities across the partnership. They considered implementing plans to maximize the benefits from the increase to a six-person crew in 2009 and discussed efforts to ensure that essential space transportation capabilities (both crew and cargo) will be available across the partnership for the life of the program. The group recognized the need for the additional Russian modules to be provided in 2009 and 2010 that will maximize six-person ISS operations and utilization.
The agency discussed their respective ongoing activities to enhance upmass and downmass transportation capabilities required for a robust utilization of the ISS, and for preparing capabilities for the future. These include; Japan’s H-2 Transfer Vehicle in the next year, the U.S. Commercial Orbital Transportation Services and the U.S. Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle; together with the current operational vehicles, the U.S. Shuttle (up to 2010), Russian Soyuz and Progress, and ESA Automated Transfer Vehicle. These capabilities will respond to the ISS operations and utilization requirements. They also noted new initiatives such as the ESA plan for an Automated Transfer Vehicle-Advanced Return Vehicle system for downmass from the ISS and the Russia-ESA joint preparatory activities on an advanced Crew Space Transportation System. The experts expressed their interest in making these capacities available for the benefit of the whole partnership and can provide sustainability of the ISS and prepare for future exploration endeavors.
As the partnership moves closer to completion of the ISS assembly, the Agency reaffirmed their common interest in utilizing the space station to its full capacity for a period meaningful for stakeholders and users. The Partners noted that a continuation of operations beyond 2015 would not be precluded by any significant technical challenges. Recognizing the substantial planned benefits to continued ISS operations and utilization beyond the current planning horizon, the Heads of Agency committed to work with their respective governments to assess support for such a goal. Cheers!
