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International Space Station (ISS)

 

About the International Space Station (ISS)

  • The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest single structure humans ever put into space.
  • Its main construction was completed between 1998 and 2011, although the station continually evolves to include new missions and experiments.
  • It has been continuously occupied since Nov. 2, 2000.
  • The space station is parked at Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at approximately 350 km above the Earth.
  • The ISS makes multiple orbits around the Earth every day.
  • The ISS includes contributions from 15 nations. NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia) and the European Space Agency are the major partners of the space station who contribute most of the funding; the other partners are the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.
  • The ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which crew members conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology, and other fields.
  • Astronauts spend most of their time on the ISS performing experiments and maintenance. Sometimes, this requires that they venture on spacewalks to perform repairs.
  • The station is divided into two sections, the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS), which is operated by Russia, and the United States Orbital Segment (USOS), which is shared by many nations.

Types of Orbits around the earth

Geostationary Orbit (GEO)

  • The circular orbit at an altitude of 35768 Kms above the equator of the Earth which follows the direction of rotation of the Earth is known as Geostationary orbit.
  • A satellite in a geostationary orbit appears to be in a fixed position to an earth-based observer.
  • A geostationary satellite revolves around the earth at a constant speed once per day over the equator 1.e., zero inclination with respect to the equator. 
  • The geostationary orbit is useful for communications applications because ground based antennas, which must be directed toward the satellite, can operate effectively without the need for expensive equipment to track the satellite’s motion.

Geosynchronous Orbit

  • The orbit around the Earth with an orbit period equal to one sidereal day (i.e. 23 Hrs, 56 minutes, 4 seconds) is known as Geosynchronous orbit.
  • The word “synchronous” means an object in this orbit returns to the same position after a period of 1 sidereal day to the observer on the Earth’s surface.
  • Geosynchronous satellites have an inclination with respect to the equator.

Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)

  • MEO is the region of space around the Earth above low Earth orbit and below geostationary orbit.
  • The most common use for satellites in this region is for navigation, such as the GPS (with an altitude of 20,200·kilometres), Glonass and Galileo constellations.
  • Communications satellites that cover the North and South Pole are also put in MEO.
  • The orbital·periods of MEO satellites range from about 2 to 24 hours.

Low Earth Orbit (LEO)

  • LEO is typically a circular orbit about 400 to 900 kilometres above the earth’s surface and, correspondingly, has a much shorter period (time to revolve around the earth) of about 90 minutes.
  • Low earth orbiting satellites are less expensive to launch into orbit than geostationary satellites and, due to proximity to the ground, do not require as high a signal strength.

Polar Orbits

  • Polar orbits are useful for spacecraft that carry out mapping or surveillance operations.
  • A satellite in polar orbit goes around the Earth from pole to pole. 
  • The planet spins underneath it as the satellite goes from north to south.
  • This gives the spacecraft access to virtually every point on the surface.

Why in News?

  • SpaceX in association with NASA launched its Crew Dragon capsule on top of its Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station (ISS).

News in detail

  • The mission is ‘historic’ because this is the first-ever time that a private spacecraft company — Space X — used its own rocket to put humans into space.
  • The mission is expected to last 30-90 days, following which the two astronauts will depart from the International Space Station by boarding the Crew Dragon.
  • This is the first time that astronauts have been launched from US soil since the STS-135 mission on July 8, 2011, following which all astronauts were flown to the International Space Station in Russia’s Soyuz Capsule.

What is Falcon 9?

  • Falcon 9 is a reusable, two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of people and payloads into Earth orbit and beyond.
  • Falcon 9 is the world’s first orbital class reusable rocket. Orbital class rockets are those that put a spacecraft/satellite in an orbit around the Earth.
  • Reusability allows SpaceX to refly the most expensive parts of the rocket, which in turn drives down the cost of space access.

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