From science fiction to science fact
The ISS enables experiments – obviously in the form of teamwork – that can’t be performed in any laboratory on Earth.
More than 4,000 experiments were carried out since the ISS was put into operation. So far, some 5,000 scientists from 108 countries have formed international teams and engaged in mutual exchanges focused on humans, health, and the environment. Other research fields of the scientific teamwork on the space station are material sciences, biology, and dosimetry (radiation exposure), fundamental physics, fluid physics, technology testing, robotics, artificial intelligence, astronomy, Earth observation, and solar physics.
The ISS flies over roughly 85 percent of the Earth’s surface, orbiting the Earth 16 times per day. Not only permanent weightlessness is an important factor for the experiments but also the speed of about eight kilometers per second (18,000 mph), the altitude of 400 kilometers (248.5 miles), and the space environment that outside the station is used for experiments as well. Weightlessness prevails on board the whole time, caused by the space station’s constant free fall around the Earth. As a result, there’s no sedimentation and no convection, for instance enabling the creation of new metal alloys and materials that cannot be achieved in conditions of gravity.
In addition to basic research work, the experiments are intended to enhance and optimize industrial processes and to cause new applications and technologies for use on Earth to emerge. In conditions of weightlessness, real-time studies of biochemical messengers in 3D for drugs and therapies against cancer, diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and osteoporosis can be successfully performed. The medical findings obtained from the long-term missions and astronaut training programs are also used in therapies on Earth, for instance to keep elderly people healthy and mobile for longer periods of time. Cell growth and cellular chemistry for dry-resistant plants are research subjects as well.
The closure of resource cycles is included in the technology tests performed on the ISS too. More than 90 percent of the water there is already being reused permanently. Breathable air and production of food are other subjects of many experiments and indispensable to future long-term missions to the Moon and Mars. Along with the next generation of space stations, the production of products under micro gravity condition is coming within range too – products that cannot be produced on Earth at that level of quality, so enabling completely new applications.
new stations strictly as clients. In that way, NASA is aiming to secure funding for exploration to develop related new technologies and systems.
Back to the Moon – in international partnership
Arguably now the most complex teamwork in space is the Artemis lunar program that’s planned to take the first woman to Earth’s companion, among other things. The existing ISS cooperation agreement practically also provides the model for the partnership for returning to Earth’s satellite under the leadership of the United States. As the only ISS partner to do so, Russia has withdrawn its participation, now – like China – planning a lunar program of its own.
Initially, starting in or about 2027, a small station – the Lunar Gateway – is planned to be developed in a lunar orbit from which regular astronautical and robotic explorations on the Moon’s surface are going to start. Again, the ISS partners will be supplying structural elements to the projects in return for which they’ll receive astronaut flights etc. The European Service Module (ESM), for instance, will supply on-board and propulsion energy to the American Orion spaceship shuttling between the Moon, the Lunar Gateway, and the Earth with up to six people on board. 60 percent of the ESM, of which a total of nine modules are planned to be built, is made in Germany. It’s produced under an ESA contract by Airbus in Bremen. Particularly interesting is the fact that NASA for the first time has engaged an ISS partner on the so-called critical path, so having entered a situation of dependency.
Because of its participation in Artemis Europe for the first time has an opportunity to take astronauts of its own to the Moon. And not only that: With ESA’s lunar lander Argonaut, which is also planned with substantial German participation, up to 1.5 metric tons (1.6 short tons) of payload and goods per mission are supposed to be taken to the Moon to support the Artemis program. Scientists are hoping to find important clues to decode the 4.5-billion-year history of our solar system. In addition, the Artemis program is deemed to be a
stepping stone to Mars. The 2030s might see the first astronautic flights to the red planet.
Increasing commercialization
Increasing commercialization is taking place in space as well. In 2040, space travel sales could amount to one trillion U.S. dollars, according to a forecast by financial service provider Morgan Stanley. One of the protagonists is ispace, a Japanese company that in December 2023 attempted its first lunar landing and is hoping to generate lunar transportation business in the billion-dollar range in the coming decades.
Looking at western rocket launches, the private-sector enterprise SpaceX with two to three launches of its Falcon 9 rocket per week has become the dominant player. For its Starlink internet satellite fleet alone, Tesla founder Elon Musks’s space project has already transported around 5,300 satellites into the orbit. They provide more than two million clients worldwide with digital data communications. Many thousands more are still to follow. The laser terminals used for data transmission are among the components that SpaceX itself manufactures. They’re part of the space industry’s fast-growing group of components-off-the-shelf or COTS for short. These volume production parts are increasingly often taking the place of the costly one-of-a-kind products that used to be characteristic of space travel, so making that sector increasingly attractive to suppliers as well. That means new players are entering the field.
Besides volume production SpaceX emphasizes the reusability of costly components and systems. For instance, the first stage of the Falcon 9 with expensive components like engines and the highly stressed turbo pumps for fuel supply can be used several times. In addition, the company has an outstanding database and knows exactly what parts must be exchanged at what time. That massively reduces costs.
Economic aspects also motivated NASA to invite tenders for support and supply services for the ISS even before the Space Shuttle has ended. SpaceX and Northrop Grumman were awarded with the service contracts for supplying the ISS. Exploration is another area in which commercial enterprises increasingly expect to develop business fields, in navigation and communications, among other things. Raw material mining on the Moon and on asteroids is another attractive prospect.
The Starship project is expected to provide another boost to the commercialization of space. The
SpaceX rocket is the largest launch vehicle ever built enabling very large payloads or complete smaller space stations to be launched – a prerequisite for nearly all space companies. Refueling and maintenance operations in space are planned as well. More and more, the Earth orbit is becoming part of the terrestrial economy. China, India, and the United Arab Emirates are increasingly playing a role in space, and other nations are pursuing activities in space as well. The Ruanda Space Agency (RSA), for instance, is planning to put Africa on the space game board. So far, that continent has only had a five-percent stake in the space business that’s worth billions of dollars or euros. With space observations, remote exploration strategies, space technology, and a satellite fleet, RSA intends to slice off a larger piece of the orbital pie for itself.
That growth, though, comes at a price: More satellites in the low Earth orbit mean a higher probability of failure rates and thus more potential space debris in critical orbits. According to models created by ESA’s Space Debris Office, in 2021, around 36,500 objects larger than ten centimeters (3.93 inches), one million objects sized one to ten centimeters (0.39 to 3.93 inches), and 130 million objects sized one millimeter (0.03 inches) to one centimeter (0.39 inches) were in the Earth’s orbit. To prevent accidents, the American Space Surveillance System continuously observes objects of five centimeters (1.9 inches) and larger. The first commercial enterprises have already presented ideas for collecting space debris – another business segment promising to have a viable and profitable future.
A view from above of terrestrial challenges
Space technologies enable us to view our Earth from above, so being a decisive key to achieving terrestrial sustainability goals. Remote Earth exploration by satellites, for instance, is an important tool for understanding changes on Earth caused by climate change and identifying actions to be taken. We would be lacking key data without that view. The ozone hole – not visible to the human eye – was only identifiable with the help of satellite data. The view from above enables us
to understand in detail how glaciers and masses of ice change over the years, to what extent greenhouse gases increase in the atmosphere, and how vegetation on Earth is changing, irrespective of the weather, time of day, and light. The interaction between academic research and industry makes it possible for us to migrate high technologies into application to serve people on Earth. Satellite missions are designed for long periods of time to precisely measure relations and changes.
That’s an important tool for emergency management too. Due to current satellite data, it’s possible to create situational pictures precisely detailing the extent of the damage that has occurred and condition of infrastructure. That information is shared as quickly as possible with the countries concerned and local relief organizations as part of the United Nations’ “International Charter on Space and Major Disasters.” That kind of information sharing, for instance, took place after the disastrous flooding in Germany’s Ahr Valley in 2021. With the help of artificial intelligence, aerial and satellite pictures were able to decisively assist the local work of helpers. The devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria in 2023 are other examples where the view from above helped depict the extent of the damage.
Knowledge from space for terrestrial decisions
We need international collaboration to develop and apply tools for Earth observation. The hyper spectrometer DESIS, jointly developed and built by DLR and the American company Teledyne Brown Engineering and operated from the International Space Station, is a case in point. In addition to information about land coverage and land utilization, the hyperspectral data can provide information about the quality of soil and the water quality in lakes. This knowledge supports modern farming and forestry and is also used for evaluating environmental disasters, which serves to assist decision-makers like government agencies and lawmakers.
Our Earth is a complex ecosystem whose interactions have no spatial boundaries. Looking at it from above and deploying top-end technologies in international collaboration enables us to take targeted and solution-oriented actions. Going forward, such technologies are going to play an increasingly important role, always focused on serving people on Earth. American astronomer Carl Sagan put it in a nutshell when he called Earth an island in space – and islanders must set sail on the sea to survive in the long run. The external view of the Earth makes boundaries disappear and shows how vulnerable and worthy of protection our planet is. We’re all sitting in the same boat and every human being can decide whether they are only a passenger on spaceship Earth or part of the crew. DLR defines itself as part of that crew.
The authors
Aylin Kilic leads the team for international relations at the DLR headquarters in Cologne. Sometimes her daily work takes her in just a few hours from Paris to the United States, to Tokyo, and via New Zealand back to Cologne. The cross-border connecting link is the will to jointly work on innovative solutions for the challenges of our times and to discover new things.
Aerospace engineer
Volker Schmid served as a German ESA delegate at the DLR’s space agency, responsible for the utilization of the ISS and the ATV program, among other things. Together with his team of the DLR’s ISS team, he planned and led the ISS missions of German ESA astronauts Alexander Gerst and Matthias Maurer for DLR and initiated several innovative German ISS experiments such as CIMON. During that time, Schmid was the “mission’s face” on the ground. Today, he’s an advisor for space issues in space questions to the Chair of the DLR Executive Board.