The ISS Enterprise? I hope we arent living in the mirror universe. *checks mirror* damn.. i have a silly goatee.. i am definitely and conclusively an evil counterpart, by all science fiction standards.
What is 'Enterprise' in Russian? Or are they just calling it that trying to sell models to us rich capitalist Trekkers?
Posted by OnToMars (Member # 621) on :
The Enterprise is actually trying to be created by Spacehab, and American company. They're the ones that build the Spacelabs that get put into the shuttle's payload bay so it can do science...or try to anyway.
Suffice it to say, they are an American company to begin with. And Enterprise was well under way and named befored 'Enterprise'. If that makes any sense.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Note also that this article was posted prior to the latest round of NASA cutbacks. Unless things change drastically again, the ISS will no longer have the CRV seven-person escape pod, nor the habitation module, thus preventing the ISS from having more than a three-person permenant crew. The also axed the propulsion module, which would have allowed the station to reboost its orbit without the shuttle.
Mark
Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :
In fact, the Enterprise module is now being marketed as a solution to the habitat problem, with the Russians examining the possibility of docking more Soyuzes to the station for re-entry needs.
Spacehab has a good rep with those pressurized extension modules in the shuttle bay, but one shouldn't confuse that with Spacelab, the all-European system featuring similar yet not identical modules. Spacehab's modules have flat tops, Spacelab's are completely cylindrar with conical endcaps... The former were once investigated as a possible extension module type for ISS, while the latter were used as the basis of the European ISS lab module design (although not quite to the degree originally intended).
Timo Saloniemi
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Another alternative to the cutback crew module ould be adapting the existing design of the MPLM logistics modules they already use for transferring supplies and garbage with the space shuttle. Modify and hard-dock a couple of those to empty ports not used by other cutback modules, and you've got a relatively inexpensive solution.
Also, twin Soyuzes docked at the station was once considered, before the Americans decided to build the more expensive CRV. Now if only they coudl get a Soyuz to last longer than six months in space...
