Russians May Help Redesign Space Station

The United States and its European and Japanese space partners have agreed to give “full consideration” to Russian contributions in the redesign of the U.S.-led space station, White House Science Adviser John H. Gibbons said Tuesday.

Russian assistance would be sought if engineers thought it would prove valuable in helping the National Aeronautics and Space Administration slash the costs of the proposed orbiting laboratory.

With total cost of the planned space station Freedom estimated at $30 billion, the Clinton Administration concluded earlier this year that the project would have to be abandoned unless a less expensive design could be produced.

Aiming at cutting the design, development and operating cost by at least half, a redesign team named by NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin has until June 7 to give the White House options for a smaller station.

Possible roles for the Russians in the revamped program include an emergency escape vehicle for space station astronauts and the use of components from Moscow’s MIR space station. NASA engineers also have studied the possibility of using the Energia, a huge Russian rocket, to put American payloads into orbit.

Still in the early phases of the station redesign effort, NASA engineers are considering the possibility of launching the U.S. station into an orbit that would put it into proximity with MIR for cooperative research efforts or assistance in an emergency.

Goldin said that Russian participation during the redesign period will be coordinated through the East-West Space Science Center at the University of Maryland, just outside Washington.

While plans call for the United States to launch the station and to provide its central facility, the European Space Agency and the Japanese Space Agency have pursued development of science modules that will provide for much of the research that will be carried out.

Though the budget squeeze has caused the United States to search for a less expensive option, Gibbons and NASA officials have said that a top priority is to come up with a new design that will enable the international partners to participate as planned.

The options now being considered range from a small initial station that could be put in orbit with a single launch to a new station, largely using systems already developed for the scrapped space station Freedom. Also under consideration is using a Defense Department satellite as a package to provide electrical power, communications and other services for the smaller station.

Two Soviet cosmonauts are now working at NASA’s Johnson Space Center near Houston and Bryan O’Connor, deputy director of the space station redesign effort, said that their views are being solicited on space station operations.

By producing a smaller, less complex space station, the Clinton Administration hopes to reduce drastically the number of shuttle missions required to assemble the structure and to eliminate many of the space walks that would have been required to assemble space station Freedom.

It is still unclear whether the redesigned station will be permanently occupied by astronauts once it is complete.

Some of the design options under consideration in the early years of the station would restrict human presence to periods of perhaps two to three months when the shuttle would be docked with the facility.

Gibbons said that the options under consideration range in cost from $5 billion to $9 billion over the next four years. Some $4 billion is being reserved for new technology investment over the four-year period. If the redesigned space station exceeds $7 billion, funds from a new technology account will have to be diverted to the station.

Officials in the redesign effort said earlier this week that they have not progressed far enough to anticipate what the employment impact will be on the aerospace industry of Southern California where contracts are heavily concentrated. Since the redesign effort got under way, some 30 station concepts divided among low-, medium- and high-cost alternatives, have been tabled.