The International Space Station (ISS) is due to receive its centrepiece unit, the US Destiny Laboratory Module, this month following its launch on the Space Shuttle Atlantis mission STS 98 on 19 January. Destiny will enable a wide range of scientific experiments to be conducted on the space station.
The aluminium module is protected by a space debris shield blanket, and is 8.5m (28ft) long, 4.3m in diameter and weighs 14,515kg (31,971lb).
Destiny will eventually be equipped with 24 fridge-size racks - 13 to support experiments and 11 to maintain the laboratory's environment.
Three Destiny systems racks will be aboard at launch and six more will be delivered and installed on another Shuttle mission in March carrying the first Italian-built Multi-Purpose Logistics Module.
Additional racks, including an optical window, will be delivered on later missions, limiting the scientific use of Destiny until then. Eventually, the 13 science racks will be used to support human research, fluids and combustion, biotechnology, materials sciences and Earth observation activities.
Extensive use of the remote manipulator system robot arm and three spacewalks will be made to install external Destiny connections to the ISS and to relocate the Pressurised Mating Adapter 2 berthing port. It will be moved from the Node 1 Unit to the forward common berthing mechanism on Destiny.
Russia's Khrunichev Space Centre, meanwhile, is planning a new fleet of heavy-duty freighters for launches to the ISS to replace the Progress tankers, 15 of which are in the process of being launched to the station until 2003.
Khrunichev, with the Energia company and the Russian Space and Aviation Agency, will base the freighter on the back-up of the Zarya control module which became the first ISS element in orbit in October 1998.
Refitting the Zarya 2 would enable it to carry a 5,000kg cargo to the ISS, compared with the 2,200kg carried by the Progress M. Khrunichev has also designed a larger freighter that would be capable of carrying 10t of cargo.
Source: Flight International
