The International Space Station just got another lease of life, thanks to a new directive from the White House asking NASA to continue its research and maintenance activities on the floating research center alongside other participating partners through 2030. Before the latest order, the U.S. Congress had only approved funding for the space station through 2024. The announcement to extend NASA's continued participation with activities aboard the orbiting lab comes at a time of great turmoil with roots in a geopolitical tussle and the dramatically changing landscape of the space industry as well.
A few weeks ago, Russia did a missile test that destroyed a non-functional satellite without any prior warning. The explosion sent debris flying everywhere, even forcing astronauts aboard the space station to perform an emergency maneuver to save their lives and the floating laboratory. It was launched in 1998 as a collaborative effort and has been visited by people from 19 countries. While the ISS and the astronauts are fine, Russia's move was criticized as a dangerous and reckless stunt, straining the already tense relations between it and the U.S. And even though experts from NASA and Russia's Roscosmos shared the sentiment of continuing their collaboration, it left many wondering about the future prospects if each country's government continues butting heads over of the missile incident.
However, it now appears that the partnership is not going to end on a bitter politically-motivated note, nor will NASA desert the space station within the next trio of years. Instead, the agency has namely the Artemis program.
Let's Hope Politics Doesn't Ruin It
To recall, NASA awarded contracts worth over 100 million each to three companies earlier this year towards building their own private stations that the agency plans to lease in the future. The three stakeholders, Blue Origin ($130 million), Nanoracks ($160 million), and Northrop Grumman ($125.6 million), aim to finish the first phase of development by the year 2025, which is also when the Artemis mission springs into action and sends man back on the lunar soil after decades. So NASA's decision to pivot from the International Space Station to leasing private space stations makes a lot of sense. Blue Origin, for example, is building a private space station called Orbital Reef that the Jeff Bezos-backed company is presenting as some sort of mixed-use business park in space.
The agency will have to spend less money and expertise on maintenance and day-to-day operations of the ISS and instead divert its energy towards the Artemis mission. Plus, the agency now has another high-profile project flying in space — the James Webb Space Telescope, an uber-expensive project on which astronomers have pinned their hopes of unraveling the oldest secrets of the universe. While private space stations seem like the future, it is also worth noting here that China is building a space station of its own. China's space agency became the first to land a probe on the moon's far side and is already working on a lander for future moon missions. Japan is not too far behind, and Russia has its own ambitions in an era that has seen private parties like SpaceX emerge as the most significant catalysts of innovation and exploring new frontiers with great success.
Source: NASA