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OCR for page 6
1
Introduction
This report documents the work of the National Research
Council Committee on Engineering Challenges to the Long-
Term Operation of the International Space Station. The
report deals only with the postassembly phase of the Inter-
national Space Station (ISS) Program (so-called "Assembly
Complete") and not with the requirements for the assembly
process. The substance of this report is based largely on
information obtained by the committee from the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and associ-
ated contractors between September 1998 and August 1999.
At the first meeting in September 1998, the committee
reviewed the report of the Cost Assessment and Validation
(CAY) Task Force of the NASA Advisory Council, which
had been released several months earlier (CAV,1998~. The
Terms of Reference for the CAV Task Force were compiled
by NASA on October 14,1997, concurrent with, andin direct
response to, the congressional interest expressed in the
Appropriations Act of October 17, 1997, that chartered this
study. The CAV report was published in April 1998, just
one month after the official start date of this study. The
CAV report included a detailed review of the cost and sched-
ule risks in the ISS Program. The report, which focused on
the assembly phase of the program, predicted a one to three
year schedule slip and a most likely date for Assembly Com-
plete of December 2005.
For the operational phase of the ISS, the CAV report rec-
ommended a budget level of $1.5 to $1.6 billion per year,
compared with NASA's goal of $1.3 billion per year. The
task force concluded that the major budget risk factors dur-
ing the operational phase would be replacing components
due to equipment failures and obsolescence.
The committee found the CAV report to be a comprehen-
sive and timely study of the ISS budget risks and decided
that it need not be duplicated and that the study on the long-
term operation of the ISS should be complementary to it.
Therefore, the committee decided to focus on the engineer-
ing challenges of long-term ISS operations and delve into
budget issues only if they were not covered in the CAV
6
report. However, the CAV report covered the budget issues
thoroughly and the recommendations in this report fit the
CAY's budget assumptions for the operational phase.
NASA's goal of $1.3 billion per year for the operational
period, beginning in fiscal year (FY) 2005, is a top-level esti-
mate. The budget for that time period has not yet been devel-
oped in detail. Hence specific budget impacts could not be
addressed in this study as they were in the CAV study, which
included the initial five-year assembly phase.
Throughout this study, various committee members noted
that the long-term operation of the ISS will constitute a major
departure for NASA from its traditional mode of operation
for human space flight operations. Until the Phase 1 Mir
program, and with the exception of the three crew visits to
Skylab in the mid-1970s, all of NASA's space flight experi-
ence has ranged from missions of several days to a few
weeks. A major purpose of the ISS is to provide a platform
for long duration microgravity experiments in the physical
and life sciences. The ISS offers unique capabilities for
research in the following areas:
biomedical research and countermeasures system
development (preventive measures for cardiovascular
and musculoskeletal deconditioning)
gravitational biology and ecology (under variable
gravity)
materials science
· biotechnology
· fluids and combustion
· human-machine interfaces and advanced life support
systems
· low-temperature physics
· earth observation and space science
The following areas will be investigated on the ISS:
· the technologies best suited for long-duration human
space exploration (NRC, 1996)
OCR for page 7
INTRODUCTION
· the role of gravity in the evolution, development, struc-
ture, and function of life forms, and as a result of
gravity, how life forms interact with their environment
(NRC, 1998)
the requirements for ensuring the health, safety, and
productivity of humans living and working in space
(NRC, 1998)
the controlling mechanisms in cellular aggregation and
differentiation for the in vitro growth of cells, organ-
isms, organs, and other biologically interesting struc-
tures (NRC, 1995)
· the optimum relationship between the process used to
form a material and its resultant properties, how this
relationship can be achieved in space and on the
ground, and how the space environment can help us
obtain highly accurate fundamental physical measure-
ments (NRC, 1998)
· the most effective energy conversion process involving
combustion (NASA, 1998)
· the unique characteristics of fluid flow and heat and
mass transfer in reduced gravity (NASA, 1998)
· the formation and evolution of the universe, galaxies,
stars, and planets (NASA, 1998)
7
· the causes of change in the Earth environment over
time (NASA, 1998)
The long-duration operation of the ISS will provide a new
environment for research to answer these questions.
REFERENCES
CAV (Cost Assessment and Validation Task Force). 1998. Report of the
Cost Assessment and Validation Task Force on the International Space
Station. Washington, D.C.: National Aeronautics and Space Adminis-
tration.
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). 1998. NASA
1998 Strategic Plan. Washington, D.C.: National Aeronautics and Space
Administration.
NRC (National Research Council). 1995. Microgravity Research Opportu-
nities for the 1990s. Space Studies Board. Washington, D.C.: National
Academy Press.
NRC. 1996. Engineering Research and Technology Development on the
Space Station. Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board. Washington,
D.C.: National Academy Press.
NRC. 1998. A Strategy for Research in Space Biology and Medicine in the
New Century. Space Studies Board. Washington, D.C.: National Acad-
emy Press.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
operational phase
