Aboard the International Space Station (ISS) from November 11, 2021, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer is looking forward to his first spacewalk. But the highlight of his stay didn’t quite go as planned. Sarrois did receive outdoor training with a Russian colleague on the new Russian Nauka module, which has a European manipulator attached to it; to do this, he had to put on a Russian space suit and follow the protocol set by the Roscosmos space agency. But the two cosmonauts then on board the ISS, Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Chkaplerov, were left alone during February 2022, and Matthias Maurer had to adapt to this schedule change. He had only seven days to prepare to accompany one of his American colleagues, Raja Chari, on a NASA-managed external mission scheduled for March 23, 2022. For nearly seven hours, the two men carried out maintenance work, including the installation of new pipes. on the cooling system and chamber replacement. Maurer also made the last connections to the European search platform Bartolomeo.
The partly “unplanned” but well-planned mission went off without a hitch, aside from some delays due to a camera improperly attached to his helmet, the website says. heise. In addition, a few hours earlier, the German astronaut had learned that the heating system of his gloves was not working. This dysfunction was not a problem, according to the Houston experts, who, however, considered the possibility of alternating phases during which he could warm his hands in the sun. I must say that outside the ISS, the temperature drops are extreme: minus 150 degrees on the night side, 120 degrees on the day side. Therefore, spacesuits include a heating and cooling system. The rear oxygen tank also provides oxygen for 8-10 hours. Finally, before launching into space, astronauts must perform a “pre-breathing” protocol, lowering blood nitrogen levels to accustom their bodies to the lower pressure. If the pressure at the station is one bar, then in their combination there is about a third of a bar, and outside it is zero. Therefore, while performing their tasks, they must constantly struggle with the rigidity of their suit in their hands, fingers, and feet, which makes outdoor missions especially tedious.
Aboard the International Space Station (ISS) from November 11, 2021, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer is looking forward to his first spacewalk. But the highlight of his stay didn’t quite go as planned. Sarrois did receive outdoor training with a Russian colleague on the new Russian Nauka module, which has a European manipulator attached to it; to do this, he had to put on a Russian space suit and follow the protocol set by the Roscosmos space agency. But the two cosmonauts then on board the ISS, Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Chkaplerov, were left alone during February 2022, and Matthias Maurer had to adapt to this schedule change. He had only seven days to prepare to accompany one of his American colleagues, Raja Chari, on a NASA-managed external mission scheduled for March 23, 2022. For nearly seven hours, the two men carried out maintenance work, including the installation of new pipes. on the cooling system and chamber replacement. Maurer also made the last connections to the European search platform Bartolomeo.
The partly “unplanned” but well-planned mission went off without a hitch, aside from some delays due to a camera improperly attached to his helmet, the website says. heise. In addition, a few hours earlier, the German astronaut had learned that the heating system of his gloves was not working. This dysfunction was not a problem, according to the Houston experts, who, however, considered the possibility of alternating phases during which he could warm his hands in the sun. I must say that outside the ISS, the temperature drops are extreme: minus 150 degrees on the night side, 120 degrees on the day side. Therefore, spacesuits include a heating and cooling system. The rear oxygen tank also provides oxygen for 8-10 hours. Finally, before launching into space, astronauts must perform a “pre-breathing” protocol, lowering blood nitrogen levels to accustom their bodies to the lower pressure. If the pressure at the station is one bar, then in their combination there is about a third of a bar, and outside it is zero. Therefore, while performing their tasks, they must constantly struggle with the rigidity of their suit in their hands, fingers, and feet, which makes outdoor missions especially tedious.
Bartolomeo, research platform Made in Germany
Matthias Maurer’s spacewalk was of great importance to the Germans, because now that the final electrical connections to the Bartolomeo platform have been made, it is now fully connected to the ISS. Thus, the Columbus ESA module practically works, trusts daily Peace Head of the “Space Kiss” mission of the German Space Agency (DLR) Volker Schmid. The activation of Bartolomeo was scheduled for March 24, with the next two weeks to be devoted to completing the order preparation phase, adds Daria Margiotta, flight director for the Matthias Maurer mission at the DLR Columbus control center in Oberpfaffenhofen. The Bartolomeo platform, whose control center is located at its manufacturer Airbus in Bremen, bears the name of the younger brother of Christopher Columbus and is presented as the younger sister of the Columbus platform, the European laboratory of the ISS. So it is also a research platform, but one that will be sold and commissioned privately to offer companies or research institutes the opportunity to carry out their projects in space. Measuring just two meters by two and a half meters, it offers twelve payload slots and three antenna slots. Full project Made in Germany is part of the commercial evolution of the ISS and is specifically designed for researchers in radiobiology, astrophysics, solar physics, or atmospheric and climate sciences to conduct tests in the immediate spatial environment. Experiments with high-precision clocks and laser communications are already planned.
The Icarus project has been suspended.
Several scientific projects between Germany and Russia have been put on hold due to the war in Ukraine, including the Icarus (International Cooperation in Animal Research Using Space) project, which collects data on animal migration. This international project, which has existed since 2002, has been supported by the ISS since 2018. The two Russian cosmonauts then installed an antenna on the outer shell of the Russian module of the international station, designed to capture data sent by transmitters equipped with thousands of animals in the world. Based on this data, the researchers then reconstruct the migratory behavior of birds such as cuckoos or arctic terns, as well as insects or small mammals.
But since the German Aerospace Center (DLR) announced on March 3, 2022, the end of ongoing cooperation with Russia, the Russian side also ended cooperation with DLR. Therefore, the transmission of data from the ISS was terminated, as well as the personal exchange of information with Russian engineers involved in the project. Worried coordinator of the Icarus project at the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Biology in Constanta Uschi Müller believes the decision is final, the journal reports. Sternum. But researchers are not discouraged, she adds, and are even already developing several alternative solutions: while waiting for a small German satellite to receive data sent by transmitters, some of it will be picked up manually, for example, when birds return to their nests.
What will be the future space strategy of Europe?
In early February 2022, before relations between the DLR and the Roscosmos agency were frozen, Austrian Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director General, and Alexander Gerst, German astronaut, answered the magazine’s questions. Spectrum der Wissenschaft defending the need for Europe to win its spatial autonomy. The weakness of our continent, they explain, is that it cannot send people into space, including for commercial travel, and remain dependent on two great powers – the United States and Russia. That’s why Europe also needs to have its own spaceship. Looking ahead to the next decade, into the 2030s, Aschbacher already wants to determine what Europe’s position will be when the ISS no longer exists in its current form, and has begun discussing this policy with decision makers. For Alexander Gerst, who visited the ISS twice in 2014 and 2018, the strategy of the last twenty years, which consisted of participating up to 8.2% in the part of the station operated by the Americans, has borne fruit, offering greater visibility in the field of space and the possibility of obtaining a large number of scientific results. But since this strategy will have to be modified in the future,we have to decide now whether we want to fall behind or want to stay ahead“, he says. All options are possible, says Aschbacher, including the complete abandonment of European space exploration. The ESA director-general gives himself a year to develop a concept that will suit all European countries. Whatever the decision, it will have a huge impact on the continent, because space projects are given special recognition. If the United States gained its power and reputation from the moon landing, Europe is also respected for the contribution it has made to aeronautical research, but now it is necessary to decide which missions should be assigned to the space sector in the future and consider development of launch opportunities at the European level.