Аннотация: ISS and the Axiom Orbital Segment. A note on the history of space exploration.
ISS and the Axiom Orbital Segment. A note on the history of space exploration.
"... There is a project (from Axiom Space) to create an orbital station , which was not included in the CLD program, but has been successfully developing for a long time. Its distinctive feature is that it is proposed to create a new station on the site of the ISS, using the capabilities of the ISS as long as its operation lasts. (...) The Axiom Orbital Segment. This station differs from the rest in that the assembly point for it will be the docking port on the Harmony module of the US segment of the ISS. (...) It is assumed that the station will become a separate orbiter after the ISS expires and the old station is de-orbited. Thus, the Axiom Orbital Segment will inherit the orbital inclination from the ISS.
Axiom Space plans to start launching modules for its station in 2024 and thereafter launch one module every year, in order to have a self-sufficient station by 2027. " [unofficial translation] (https://rossaprimavera.ru/article/428f57b5?utm_source=yxnews&utm_medium=desktop)
Axiom Space is founded (in 2016) by Michael T. Suffredini and Kam Ghaffarian.
Kam Ghaffarian was born in Iran and came to the United States at age 17. He has significant business experience.
Michael T. Suffredini has long worked at NASA in a variety of positions and has significant contributions to the US space industry.
To illustrate his activities in a short note, a plot with the purchase of laptops for space flights can serve.
It is possible to design and to manufacture special computers for space flight. It is possible to upgrade for space travel of laptops made to work in terrestrial conditions. Finally, computers that are sold in general stores (stores of common access) can be purchased and used directly.
Here is what Michael T. Suffredini said in an interview with Rebecca Wright (Houston, TX - 29 September 2015).
"We have spent years trying to convince people that we"ve got to drive the cost down. One of the big ways to drive the cost down is to use commercial off-the-shelf technology. (...)... By the time we buy the COTS product, and do all the things we do around it to make it what we wanted it to be, we had cost $43 million. That"s a huge exaggeration, but that was basically it....
(...) I walk into a lab one day, just to see how we"re processing our laptops. Every laptop gets completely torn open. Every card gets conformal coated, we put in special clips for the adapter, we get rid of the adapter and we put a different power supply on it. Then we put it all back together, and we take the $2,000 laptop and turn it into a $10,000, $12,000, $14,000 laptop. (...)
Now when I buy laptops, we don"t make mods [modifications] to them. They get no mods. We tested the laptops for radiation susceptibility, and if they"re sensitive, then we just don"t use them. We find a brand that"s not sensitive. We buy them from the store, online. This last batch we bought online. (...) This idea of trying to really use commercial off-the-shelf capabilities to really save money is a big, big challenge. "
Naturally, in order for the laptop to work, you need, among other things, an adapter...
"One of the things I did that was a huge challenge for the safety community was we built AC [alternating current] adapters, 110 volt just like you have in your wall. The adapters look just the ones you could probably find one in here somewhere. We have that on orbit now. "
In general, the idea is clear. For work in space, not special, but conventional commercial, publicly available technologies and products are used. This provides tremendous savings.
Michael T. Suffredini has been successful in many of his local reforms while at NASA.
Now he is one of those whose task is to preserve a permanently operating, permanently inhabited space station in low Earth orbit.
As for the future fate of the ISS, one can imagine such a scenario.
New modules are added to the ISS, and old modules are separated from it.
At some point, the station will be completely renewed.
Will it change its name with a new name (for example, Axiom)? Or will the letters ISS remain in the name?
Apparently, in the near future we will see what the fate of the modern ISS will be.
[MMDLIII. NanoRacks and Jeffrey Manber. The note. - December 3, 2021.].
December 15, 2021 00:18
Translation from Russian into English: December 15, 2021 01:08
Владимир Владимирович Залесский "ISS (МКС) и Axiom Orbital Segment. Заметка об истории освоения космоса".
{ 2619. ISS (МКС) и Axiom Orbital Segment. Заметка об истории освоения космоса.
MMDLXXXIX. ISS and the Axiom Orbital Segment. A note on the history of space exploration. }