MOSCOW, November 22, Tatyana Pichugina. Thanks to experiments in orbit, people will be able to stay in space for a long time, industry representatives said at the Third International Conference «Science on the ISS» , dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the station. Experts spoke about the most important research results and discussed the prospects that ROS will provide.
Medicine on the ISS for near and deep space
The first module of the International Space Station was the Russian functional cargo block Zarya. It launched on November 20, 1998 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
“The Americans sent the module into orbit a few days after ours. I was assigned to the first assembly crew on the shuttle. We had to dock both modules, open the hatches, and do the first maintenance of this small station,” recalls pilot-cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, executive Director for Manned Space Programs of the Roscosmos State Corporation.
The creation of the ISS is in itself a big technical experiment, he emphasizes. No one has ever tried to dock modules simultaneously in space.
“Usually, mock-ups are created on the ground first. But here, many things were done theoretically, and the modules met for the first time in orbit. Working out technologies for international interaction — so that everything worked as a single organism — was a difficult task,” continues the cosmonaut.
As soon as The first crew flew into orbit, and they immediately began preparing medical experiments. Many have been going on continuously for many years, began at the Mir station and will continue at ROS — the Russian orbital station, which will replace the ISS.
«This is correct. Everyone's body is different, and in order to get a lasting result, you need to collect statistics,» explains Krikalev.
The lion's share of experiments on the ISS is carried out by the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
“Thanks to this work, a person can be in weightlessness for a long time and return to Earth healthy,” says RAS academician Lev Zeleny, scientific director of the RAS Space Research Institute, where the conference is taking place. To support his words, he cites the “indecent” story of an American astronaut, to whom, after returning to Earth, his girlfriend flew straight to Moscow. “The fact that a person returns from space wants a lot is the merit of our doctors,” adds the scientist.
“What Lev Matveevich called an indecent story is a completely normal situation for doctors. We are working to ensure that cosmonauts, once on another planet, for example, on the Moon, feel good not only in terms of functionality and reserves, but also with from the point of view of procreation. The prospect of long-distance space flights is a topic that we are working on,» says RAS academician Oleg Orlov, director of the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
This is the subject of a series of ground-based experiments, in which they look at how spacecraft control skills degrade after a long flight and how an astronaut will generally feel after landing on another planet. “No one will meet him there, and the person must be self-sufficient,” Sergei Krikalev explains the essence of the work.
In just 25 years, 86 fundamental medical and biological research and 20 applied research in 19 areas were carried out on the ISS. Academician Orlov named such figures in his report. Many works have entered clinical practice on Earth — for example, the Regent medical suit, the Corvit walking simulator for the rehabilitation of neurological patients.
Telemedicine was originally developed to support space flights, and is now being implemented as a service in clinics. Airmobile hospitals were also created for emergency situations during landing of astronauts. Now they are in the service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
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Printing organs in orbit, raising birds
The first non-medical experiment on the ISS was Plasma Crystal. His idea was proposed by academician Vladimir Fortov. Scientists created dusty plasma and observed its behavior in zero gravity. According to the theory, it should have exhibited the properties of a crystal or liquid. This was confirmed experimentally, and although these studies did not provide immediate practical results, in the future they will make it possible to create nanomaterials with unique properties.
But another physical experiment of the Joint Institute for High Temperatures of the Russian Academy of Sciences — “Coulomb Crystal” has already led to important practical results. Its essence is to catch diamagnetic particles in a magnetic trap. This is easier to do in zero gravity conditions. From this research, problems for 3D bioprinting were born, and in 2018, Russian scientists were the first in the world to print the thyroid gland from living mouse cells in orbit. And in March 2024, on the ISS, they will also be the first to print hollow organs from living cells — vessels, ureters, tracheas.
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Another important physical experiment is “Rusalka”, which was carried out in 2009-2012. This is a series of very high resolution spectrometers for observing greenhouse gases. According to academician Lev Zeleny, they plan to send the device to Mars to determine trace amounts of methane in the planet’s atmosphere. The ISS acted as a testing ground. This work will be continued by the Dryad experiment. The scientist also noted the successful project «Chibis-M» — a microsatellite launched from the ISS to study lightning in various ranges.
Next year, an experiment on breeding Japanese quails will begin in orbit. This was announced by the Chairman of the Roscosmos KNTS Alexander Bloshenko. “An incubator and bird eggs will be delivered to the station, which will go through a full cycle — from maturation to hatching. We will look at how weightlessness affects the reproductive function of the body,” noted a representative of Roscosmos.
The Coordination Council has eight sections that accept applications to conduct scientific research on the ISS. Currently, scientists are performing 116 targeted works. The commissioning of the Science module will expand opportunities for researchers. However, according to Bloshenko, the preparation time for experiments is very long: on average, it takes nine years, or even twelve, from conception to delivery on board. From 2016 to 2020, Roscosmos financed all space experiments at the ground development stage and planned to produce 121 flight models, but in the end only 47 were made.
KNTS has already begun to formulate targeted work at the ROS in order to approve the program and begin ground training in 2025. TsNIIMASH received 57 applications. “The vast majority are continuation of research on the ISS,” noted Alexander Bloshenko. He called on scientists not to repeat themselves and set themselves new ambitious goals.
The operational life of the ISS has been extended until 2028, but already in 2027 Roscosmos plans to deploy a new orbital station — ROS — from the Vostochny Cosmodrome. This was announced by the General Designer for manned programs, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Solovyov. The station will have high power, a high-speed communication line, an open architecture, and the ability to control a swarm of small spacecraft. A space tug is being developed for it.
By 2031, the ROS should operate in orbit in a minimal configuration. The working life will be at least 50 years.