General Studies- III (Awareness in the fields of Space)
Gist Of Editorials
27 April 2021
The International Space Station (ISS) is a landmark of international cooperation.
For over 20 years, it has seen intense collaboration between the U.S., Russia, the EU, Japan and Canada, and has played host to people from 19 countries since its launch in 1998.
- This scenario appears to be coming to an end, as Russian space agency Roscosmos’s chief has declared that Russia is ready to build its own space station and launch it by 2030.
- Further, Deputy Prime minister Yuri Borisov said Russia would give notice and leave the ISS by 2025.
History:
The idea of the ISS was born in 1984 when Ronald Reagan, then the US President, announced it in a State of the Union address.
- He announced: “A space station will permit quantum leaps in our research in science, communications, and in metals and lifesaving medicines which could be manufactured only in space.”
- Since then, the ISS project saw a collaboration grow between several countries, mainly the following space agencies: NASA (U.S.), Roscosmos (Russia), ESA (Europe), JAXA (Japan) and CSA (Canada).
- Though the programme began in 1993, the construction of the station started only in 1998.
Human expedition to the ISS:
The ISS has been assembled section by section over several years. The first segment was launched on November 20, 1998 in a Russian proton rocket named Zarya (which means ‘sunrise’).
- The first human expedition to the station was launched in a Soyuz TM 31 rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
- This crew became the very first to inhabit the ISS — these were NASA astronaut Bill Shepard and Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev from Roscosmos, who reached the station on November 2, 2000 and stayed for several months.
- So far, 240 individuals from 19 countries have visited the ISS, including from Malaysia and the UAE.
- Most have been from the U.S., numbering 151; Russia has sent 48 people; Japan 9; Canada 8 and so on.
Key features of ISS:
The length of the ISS is just about a metre short of the length of an American football field at 109 m.
- It has a habitable volume of 388 cu. m. and includes six sleeping quarters, two toilets and a gym.
- It weighs 419,725 kg, which to give a perspective, is the weight of 1,090 cows.
- The ISS, at a height of about 402 km above the Earth, orbits it 16 times every day, once every 90 minutes.
- Over a period of 24 hours, the people inhabiting the ISS see 16 sunrises and sunsets.
Physics experiments:
Some of the early physical sciences experiments related to crystal growth. The newer ones study the behaviour of free-flying soccer balls in microgravity.
- More exotic sounding subjects include Janus particles, or particles that have two ‘faces’ with distinct properties — one side is hydrophobic and avoids water, while the other is hydrophilic and loves water.
- Studying these in microgravity reveals the fundamental physics behind microparticle self- assembly and the kinds of colloidal structures that can be fabricated.
Source: The Hindu / NASA
