credit: Roscosmos / caption: MRM 2 was launched before MRM 1

Go here for NASA's picture of the Mini-Research Module (MRM) 2 "Poisk" module that docked with the Russian International Space Station segment Zvezda's zenith docking port on 12 November. In the photo you can only really see the propulsion module

According to the US space agency Poisk is a Russian word that can mean search, seek or explore while you can read about Poisk's arrival and the fact that it it delivered 750kg (1,650lb) of cargo here at the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) website

Go here for a picture of MRM 2 under construction. Roscosmos says of the Poisk, "Its original name was Docking Module 2 (Stykovochniy Otsek 2 (SO-2)), as it is almost identical to Pirs already on the station. It will be added to the zenith port of the Zvezda module, and will serve as an additional docking port for Soyuz and Progress spacecraft and as an airlock for spacewalks. Poisk will also provide extra space for scientific experiments, and provide power-supply outlets and data-transmission interfaces for two external scientific payloads to be developed by the Russian Academy of Sciences."

Poisk will be joined by MRM 1 in May 2010 when Space Shuttle Atlantis delivers it, a mission that was previously scheduled for April 2010 and using the Discovery orbiter. The arrival of MRM2 marks a new phase in Russia's contribution to the ISS

Watch this video from the International Astronautical Congress in Daejeon, Korea where the future of the International Space Station was discussed by the ISS partners 

Go here for more IAC2009 videos

Watch this video from the Internatonal Astronautical Congress in Daejeon, Korea first plenary session where heads of the world's major space agencies discuss the future

Go here for more IAC2009 videos

Despite NASA declining to confirm that Space Shuttle Discovery's mission STS-133 will leave the Italian designed and built Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Raffaello at the station and the latest mission information echoing comments made to Hyperbola by the space agency's ISS programme manager, the Space Shuttle programme manifest below shows that STS-133's payload is being referred to as PLM, the acronym for the Permanent Logistics Module project. This involves modifying Raffaello for its permanent attachment to the space station

The manifest also shows that Shuttle's last mission, STS-133, occuring in September but during NASA administrator Charles Bolden's interview with this blogger on Monday 12 October at the International Astronautical Congress in Deajeon, Korea he said that Shuttle would retire in 2011. Bolden is a former Shuttle astronaut and like many close to the programme probably expects slippage in the busy 2010 launch schedule

click on the image below to see a larger version in the same browser window

NASA had told Hyperbola its administrator Charles Bolden was not going to be available here in Daejeon, Korea but a bit of persistence goes a long way and over a few minutes after the heads of agency plenary session Bolden gave away some interesting details about his thinking on the future of US human spaceflight policy

What was surprising was the degree to which Bolden had clearly already decided that Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles were not going to be a part of that future. Despite this journalist's prodding about the interest shown in EELVs during the Augustine review Bolden was very clear, they were not man rated and multiple launch scenarios with LEO rendezvous and docking was just a no-no; so this was one former two-star US Marine Corp general this blogger decided it was not worth arguing with

But even before the EELVs were outright rejected Bolden was adamant beyond LEO exploration needed a heavy lift vehicle. One wonders what heavy lift vehicle exactly is being costed by the agency, Bolden was guided away by his minders at this point, but the other elements that Bolden was describing match very closely the Augustine summary report's option two; making the heavy lift vehicle the Ares V lite

And of course this also means propellant depots are unlikely to see the light of day evey 45min either

To date this blog has been expecting a decision on US human spaceflight policy before Christmas so that the new policy could be incorporated into the FY2011 budget. Remember when the FY2010 budget request talked of a second budgetary submission to Congress following the review? But if a decision is months off - well there is universal health care and a new Afgan war strategy to sort out first - then appropriations specifically for this new policy may not appear until FY2012. And what does that mean for the Augustine committee's $2.5 billion commercial crew proposal, or any commercial transportation initiative? 

So "Yes we can" now has less immediacy to it and for NASA it's now more of "Yes, in due course"

credit JAXA / caption: Has Fig.6-1 spilled the beans?

Has the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency given the game away with this diagram from an International Astronautical Congress 2009 JAXA International Space Station plans presentation?

Is that a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy with Orion I see before me and what's with the human lander demonstration in 2025?

Is this the new plan, broadly speaking? Has the grapevine network between the different space agencies led the Japanese to broadly sketch out how they expect human Moon exploration to evolve after friendly email banter with their NASA counterparts?

It's certainly intriguing but then it could just be JAXA's plan and that Orion like spacecraft could be a JAXA vision vehicle for a 2020-era Japanese manned transportation system. Then again the human lander demo reference could explain the mysterious March International Space Exploration Coordination Group statement that indicated Altair may not be the only crewed lander - I never did get any sense out of the agencies about who this statement referred too. Stay tuned for more info about the international lunar exploration plans this week

credit: IAF/KARI

So Hyperbola has finally touched down in Daejeon in south Korea, after a scorching reentry from the Oort cloud, or was that just the effect of the Korean spicy Kimchi pickle and the even more spicy red pepper paste, Kochu Chang, they put on most of their food?

Either way it is a countdown now to the start of the 60th International Astronautical Congress and the space agencies' plenary session, so expect pictures and pithy comment from this blog as the week unfolds with everything from grand human exploration visions to suborbital tourism

But it won't end with Hyperbola's Asiana flight out of Seoul next weekend, oh no, the international space theme continues with the AIAA/DLR International hypersonics and spaceplanes conference in Bremen, Germany next week

Hyperbola is launching to the Oort cloud for a week's R&R from today and will be returning via Daejeon, Korea from the 12 October. In Daejeon Hyperbola will be blogging from the International Astronautical Congress, where the world's space community meets. And yes there may even be Virgin Galactic news there...

·      Below is NASA's answer to Hyperbola's question about multiple efforts for docking systems that seemed to be springing up everywhere

As well as progress with the Orion crew exploration vehicle's LIDS NASA has informed Hyperbola that $15 million is to be spent on docking system work for the agency's commercial crew and cargo programme and last week the European Space Agency explained to this blog that it too was co-operating with NASA on a docking system that is called the Common Berthing and Docking Mechanism 


"[Low Impact Docking System] is the baselined docking mechanism for Constellation/Orion.

·         ISS has assumed responsibility for building a new docking adapter for the US [International Space Station segment]

o   Replaces the existing Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA) based [Androgynous Peripheral Assembly System (APAS)] docking system used for Shuttle

o   ATLAS (remember that ATLAS stands for APAS to LIDS Adapter System) has been transferred from Orion to ISS and integrated into new project called Common Docking Adapter (CDA)

o   CDA Project has been asked to develop a new International Docking Standard, which would identify key technical requirements that would allow many different designs for docking spacecraft. If an agreement can be reached and the agency implements the standard on ISS, LIDS may be slightly modified to interface with the standard [emphasis added].

·         $15M in [American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009] funding is being used to develop requirements for a new docking adapter and building components for a demonstration International Docking Standard

 ·         The docking standard is being worked by an international group including [Canadian Space Agency], ESA, [Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency], NASA, and [Rocket and Space Corporation] Energia; the intent is to provide a standard for use by any nation or commercial company to provide the ability to dock spacecraft."

In a surprise move that may see Lockheed frozen out of a Bigelow, Commercial Crew Development progamme collaboration the Boeing company has announced its teaming with Bigelow

 

Boeing Submits Proposal for NASA Commercial Crew Transport System

ST. LOUIS, Sept. 23, 2009 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] submitted a proposal to NASA on Sept. 22 to accelerate the development of commercial human space transportation as defined by NASA in its Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) announcement. Boeing's submission, which draws on the company's experience with proven human-rated spacecraft, proposes development of technologies that will mature its Commercial Crew Transportation System concept.

NASA's CCDev initiative is intended to stimulate private-sector development of a commercially managed system that could be used to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station, Bigelow Aerospace's Orbital Space Complex, and other potential destinations in low Earth orbit.