Roscosmos Executive Director Krikalev: many ISS systems need to be changed
The International Space Station (ISS) was and remains one of the most ambitious projects in the history of mankind. On his birthday, the executive director of Roscosmos for manned space programs, Sergey Krikalev, told the newspaper.Ru", how Russia and the USA interact on the project in conditions of political tension, why the station works after the end of the warranty period and how to deal with cracks that appear for unknown reasons.
- Russian manned cosmonautics has been developing for more than sixty years. What stages can be distinguished on this path?
- In the first stage, it is possible to combine trial autonomous flights on ships that began on Vostok, Voskhod and Soyuz. This stage ended with a long flight on the Soyuz-9 spacecraft, which took place for 18 days. Then it seemed to be the limit of the possible duration of the flight.
Sergey Krikalev
Image source: Alexander Shcherbak/TASS
After that, the stage of orbital stations began. The first was the Salyut-1 station. But all Salyut stations were single-module. The first ones were with one docking node, then with two, then with a refueling system. This made it possible to operate them for a long time, to spend up to six months at these stations.
And the next stage is the multi-module Mir station. The ISS, which is now functioning, is built on the same principle. Our future Russian station will be similar.
- Is it possible to call the time of the Mir station the heyday of cosmonautics?
As a result, we have a huge experience of long-term flights, a huge experience in creating life support systems. And many things that were created and worked out at the Mir station were later upgraded and used on the Russian segment of the International Space Station.
- Why are our engineers not returning to the idea of a reusable orbiter "Buran"?
- The idea of a reusable ship itself was, of course, beautiful, but it only works well in the case of a large cargo flow up and down. As we can see from the existing programs, there is no such need.
The Americans used "Shuttles" - the same reusable system - to build the station. But, according to their calculations, such ships are advisable with 50 or more launches per year. Now such a number of launches are not carried out.
- Do I understand correctly that the designers who made apparatuses, rockets, launch vehicles, stations have not offered anything in principle since the 80s?
- A big step was really taken then, but even now technology is moving forward. Since that time, new computing tools and a control system for the International Space Station have appeared.
Externally, the station looks the same, but its control system is completely different. This was done thanks to good international cooperation. At that time, the best industrial computers were provided to us by the European Space Agency, we wrote mathematics for it, and in general, we got a pretty good, efficient computing complex on the Russian segment of the International Space Station.
By the way, if we draw analogies with aviation, then we can cite the example of the Boeing 747, which has been flying for decades. There was a well-made airframe, the filling changed, the control system changed, navigation changed, but externally the planes were the same. T-38 aircraft (Northrop T-38 Talon is a two-seat American supersonic training aircraft)[/i], which we trained on when we were training under the American program, are still in service. Many of them have been flying for more than 50 years. But the inner filling is completely different there.
So this is normal, the ISS does not change much externally, but new opportunities are emerging.
- What's up with the ISS now? Has it really started to "crumble"?
- Already 15 years ago, it was said that some systems on the ISS had aged and were failing.
- But its expiration date has passed, hasn't it?
- Her warranty period has passed. This is completely different.
Here at my house, not even 50% of home appliances, but 99% of the equipment works after the end of the warranty period. The TV, which had a warranty period of one year, has been working for me for many years, the refrigerator, which may have had 2-3 years, has also been working for 20 years, probably.
The first ISS module, which began the possibility of permanent habitation at the station, was launched in 2000. Its warranty period ended in 2015. And I remember that since 2013, when the launch of the MLM module (Multifunctional laboratory module "Science") was constantly postponed[/i], said: "And why let him in if the station has to die in two years?".
They also forgot about the fact that the module, if necessary, can be undocked.
- Do you mean the new module "Science"?
- Any module. This is a normal, logical scheme: if some new resource remains and suddenly a decision is made to flood the ISS, this does not mean that the entire station needs to be flooded.
- Will they carry tourists?
- Tourists are not the main thing. By the way, Roscosmos was mainly engaged in tourists, if you look at the history of flights. They will conduct scientific experiments. Moreover, the strategies change a little. They will test the delivery of goods by commercial companies.
- Are you continuing the dialogue with the Americans on the ISS in the same mode as it has been since the creation of the station? Are you calling back?
- We don't call back often, although sometimes it happens. We have a regular teleconference, a regular joint review of readiness for the next launches. Americans come to us for launches because their cosmonauts fly on our ships. And now, in connection with cross-flights, we are interacting even more closely with them.
The control center exchanges information every day about what U-turns and crew activities are planned, how to make it as efficient as possible. The schedule of astronauts and astronauts is compiled together.
This work continues on a daily basis, which is important because working in space carries certain risks. It is always necessary to work in concert here so that the safety of the crew is at the proper level.
- The ISS has been plagued by depressurization lately. Why is the leak so hard to find?
The fact is that the pressure at the station varies from temperature, humidity, oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide release. And it changes in a much wider range than from these leaks. And only on a long time interval can the leak be caught, because the "toothed saw" is constantly visible on the graph, and it takes time to see a very small slope of the overall trajectory. You won't see these changes on the daily charts. Since these are microcracks, no leak detectors detect them. Nevertheless, we managed to identify the compartment, some of the microcracks are localized, repair work is underway.
- Is it clear why they were formed?
- The question of the cause of these cracks is still open.
- Is it definitely not metal fatigue? Because that's the first thing that comes to mind...
- Indeed, there is even such a concept in technology: "fatigue cracks". But scientists, technicians, engineers from both the Russian and American sides said that it was definitely not them. Because the areas in which these micro-leaks were detected are not in "loaded places". And the greatest probability of the appearance of a "fatigue crack" is exactly where the cyclic loading is maximum. Therefore, the answer to this question has not yet been found.
- Is it clear now how to deal with these microcracks?
- We tried to cover these places with special adhesive tape, then we used special sealants. A special technological operation has been developed on Earth, how to do this. The leaks decreased, but did not completely disappear. So while we are looking for options.
- Why do problems with docking to the ISS often occur? For example, the robot Fedor, I remember, could not dock at the station in any way ...
- Indeed, problems sometimes arise. And each has its own rationale. One of the problems of docking with the ship was with one of the docking antennas, and this problem arose from the interaction of the ship with the head fairing during the withdrawal process. They searched for a long time for the reason. Then, when they found it, they took measures and it didn't happen again. There was an option when it was necessary to switch to manual modes at the docking, but this was due either to the operation of the control systems or to the antenna settings.
- Is the "Science" module already in use?
- The Nauka module was supposed to integrate into the Russian segment of the international space station after docking, and thanks to the recent spacewalks of our guys, we have recently completed the integration process.
A special radiator was installed, which made it possible to dump excess heat into space during scientific experiments. The airlock is installed and all the necessary cables are connected. Now we will start delivering scientific equipment there.
- You recently announced the recruitment of new candidates for the cosmonaut squad. When will they fly?
- Life shows that, as a rule, it takes five years or more to prepare. And then it depends on the individual abilities of the astronauts who came and on the program.
For various reasons. Someone for medical reasons, someone for the inability to master the program. But the guys of the pre-launch set, which was in 2018, have now already come to work as part of the crew.
- It just seems that people are flying more and more aged ...
- Probably, to some extent it is. Gagarin and Titov were young people up to 30 years old. But then a little more than a year passed from the moment they joined the squad to the flight, and the training itself was much shorter.
Now the equipment has become more complicated, there are more tasks, so both we and the Americans have training divided into several stages. The first stage is the general space training, it takes two years. After that, the training stage begins in the group, where the cosmonaut already studies in detail a specific ship, station in the configuration in which it is currently flying, and passes exams on knowledge of these systems.
And the next stage is already training as part of the crew. It now takes somewhere in the region of one and a half years.
- And for a hundred exams, how many years do you need?
- It depends on individual characteristics, capabilities, abilities.
- Can I pass everything in a year?
- Some experts say that at this stage it is worth completely abandoning manned cosmonautics and focusing, for example, on satellites, which our military is very lacking. What do you say about this?
- I would say that there are always some extreme opinions, but the truth is somewhere in the middle. Unmanned astronautics has both pros and cons. And, as a rule, moving forward, creating something new, studying and mastering new technologies, new space, new techniques is more effective when combining automatic and manned missions.
We discuss this topic with our scientists all the time. Because sometimes a satellite is really enough to get specific target data, images from the Earth, data from the upper atmosphere. And this is a simpler and cheaper way to get information. But sometimes there are difficult tasks, and this requires manned programs.
A good example is the program of the Hubble telescope, which, in principle, worked most of its time in automatic mode, but was made so that it could be serviced. And if it hadn't been done that way, then the effectiveness of this Hubble would have been close to zero. I think a reasonable combination of manned and unmanned missions is the most effective way to solve issues.
- Our Luna-25 crashed. What do you think about this?
- It's a pity that this happened. Now the commission is working, they will look into the reasons.
But, probably, it is worth asking yourself more global questions. From my point of view, we need more state control over such scientific tasks as the exploration of the Moon, and, by the way, over manned programs.
- What should happen in manned cosmonautics in the next 5-10 years to please the Executive Director of Roscosmos for manned cosmonautics?
- I now see that, unfortunately, young people are losing interest in cosmonautics. This is happening because there are no ambitious new programs. And an ambitious program is not always the most expensive program. This is a program that ends with a result in a reasonable time. Probably, we need to work on this. I would like young people to come, so that their eyes would burn, so that they would continue our work.
It has served a good service and has been upgraded many times, but it is probably time to create something new taking into account modern capabilities and technologies. I would like to see these projects completed.
Anna Urmantseva