ISS

International Space Station: anatomy of a large space laboratory

The International Space Station (ISS) is the most important project of world wide cooperation ever performed in the domain of civil research. It is one of the most famous projects of international technological cooperation, due to it’s strategically importance but also to its budget. At its completion, foreseen in 2010, it will be a huge metal bird with the wingspread of a football field.

Origin of the station

The project is resulting of a President Reagan initiative taken in 1983 to fund an American Station devoted to be in competition with MIR. Later, the abandonment of that project in favor of the realization of a common station with Russia, Japan, Canada, Brazil and Europe gave birth to the ISS.

A Space Station, to do what?

The Space Station is used as laboratory for live science and material sciences, also as a platform for earth observation, space sciences and technological research. ISS is providing a permanent attendance of men in space

Construction:

Its building in space, started in 1998, will need a lot of flights performed by several vehicles. 67 flights have been done up to now by 23 Shuttle missions and 44 flights of Russian rockets (16 Soyuz, including 1 assembly flight and 5 taxi-flights + 2 Proton and 26 Progress).

Europe formalized its participation in the ISS program during a Ministerial Council dated 1995 in Toulouse. The major contractor is Boeing. The achievement of the development phase is foreseen in July 2010

During Station development, the European Space Agency (ESA) is involved in:

• the European laboratory Columbus,
• the European scientific installations distributed in several places of the Station (into Columbus, into the American laboratory Destiny, on external platforms)
• the European telematic Robotic Arm ERA,
• the Automatic Transfer Vehicle ATV.

Belgium is concerned with:

• the realization of computer subsystems, already delivered and operating into the Russian module Zvesda,
• the realization of the ground control equipments for the Columbus laboratory,
• the ATV electronic part,
• a participation in the realization of the European Robotic Arm ERA.

The development is organized around 5 partners: the United States, Russia, Europe, Canada, Japan, accounting for 15 participant countries, including 10 European countries: Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Brazil.

Various organizations, named "USOC (User Support and Operation Centers)", have been created in Europe to provide support to the users. In Belgium it is the B.USOC, accommodated in the premises of the Belgium Institute of Space Aeronomy located in Uccle.