The End Is Scheduled For the ISS

As a new and exciting era of space exploration begins with the James Webb Space Telescope, another ends. The International Space Station has a definitive end of life, scheduled for a controlled deorbiting in 2031. However, it won't be easing into retirement, with NASA planning a full load of science in the next 9 years. Yeah, those goals are a bit opaque at this point, in the general "do science for the benefit of humanity" sense, but it's not going to be like Skylab which sort of sat around unused for the majority of its time up in space.

A big question for the post-ISS future: What comes next? NASA is betting on commercial space station, which is ... ambitious. Private space flight is definitely something that exists, but an entire space station? I wouldn't be surprised to see that 2031 date pushed back a bit, since NASA said they definitely want some overlap between the first commercial station going up and the ISS coming down. I'm not sure I'm a fan of the only space stations being commercially owned. These private space companies aren't owned by the greatest of people.

Lasers in Space

Ever since man has first dreamed of flying through space, man has dreamed of attaching weapons to those spaceships. The latest addition to man's dream of weaponizing space may actually come to fruition. There are now plans to mount a powerful laser on the International Space Station.

It actually makes sense once you understand the context. There's about 3,000 tons of various kinds of debris floating around in Earth's orbit, and the tiniest speck can pack an enormous punch. The ISS constantly has to manuever around bits and pieces of space junk, and it is built to withstand impacts from really small objects. But think about it. It would make everyone's lives much easier if there was something up in orbit getting rid of potentially hazardous junk. After all, we've come to depend on satellites, and some stray debris could wreak a lot of havoc.

Unfortunately, the idea of attaching a laser to a space station is a bit politically sensitive. I imagine there will be some controversy. But the fact is that we depend on satellites up there in orbit, and they are all under constant threat. A way to clear out space debris would not only protect the people up in orbit, it would benefit all of us. As much as we might want to avoid it, space weaponization is probably inevitable, and as long as things are handled transparently, it should work out just fine.

Commercial Space Flight is Coming

As of 2011, the United States has no manned space vehicle. The only way we can send astronauts to the International Space Station is by hitching a ride on a Soyuz, and seeing that tensions with Russia are kind of high, this is not a brilliant situation.  NASA is focused right now on Orion and the Space Launch System, a big giant rocket meant to send astronauts past low Earth orbit. However, low Earth orbit operations are obviously not going to stop, and so, NASA has turned to commercial space flight and ships built by private companies.

There won't be just one, SpaceX and Boeing will each build, launch, and maintain their own spacecraft, operating out of Cape Kennedy Space Center. They will be reusable, and meant for travel to and from the ISS. While this won't be happening tomorrow, space flights should commence in 2017. This is fantastic news for manned space flight, getting more and more ships out there will bring the cost of space flight down, and it allows NASA to devote more money and resources into manned flight to the Moon, to asteroids, and to Mars.

NASA's New Rocket Coming Soon

Well, in three and a half years or so.  The Space Launch System is the first really heavy duty rocket we've had since the Saturns, and the SLS will have even more deep space capability.  At over 400 feet tall, the SLS will be able to send astronauts outside Earth's influence altogether, on to nearby asteroids or to Mars.  It's about time we regained the capability to send people beyond the International Space Station.  Sure, the shuttle was interesting, and the ISS is quite an achievement, but they're not very far away.  We've sent probes far afield, Rosetta is now in orbit around a comet, and New Horizons just passed Neptune's orbit, but they don't have quite the same impact that sending astronauts to those places would have.  So yes, this is good news.  A new, ambitious manned space program is a good thing.