SpaceHab
ISS Enterprise To Be Based On Progress Design
 The
commercial International Space Station module, “Enterprise”,
being developed by Spacehab Inc. and RSC Energia, will be based on a
stretched
version of the Progress spacecraft used to deliver cargo to Mir and
ISS. It will include a “studio bay” with a window to provide
crew members with a view of ISS, arriving vehicles and Earth.
The Enterprise
design will be based on standard Progress module, stretched to 9
meters from the standard length of 7.23 meters, and with a diameter
of 3 meters instead of 2.2 meters. The enlarged hull will shelter 50
m3 of pressurized volume, about 31 m3of that
habitable, with the rest occupied by module systems and cargo. The
module will include an “instrument module” to be used for
rendezvous and docking, which will be jettisoned once the Enterprise
is attached to ISS.
The pressurized
interior will include the Studio bay, as well as a 64-position
equipment bay which will accommodate standardized Station Express
racks, Shuttle middeck lockers and Spacehab module lockers. The
equipment bay will be set up to allow experimenters to use both
pressurized volume as well as attached payloads on the hull exterior
at the same time, with crew time to operate experiments purchased or
bartered from the ISS crew "and eventually from visiting
commercial crewmembers." The Studio bay is "a large open
space at the bottom end of the module," which will be set up to
generate high definition video for broadcast and multimedia
production. The module may also carry hardware originally planned
for the Russian Docking and Stowage Module, which was to be
positioned at the Zarya nadir port. "Such features may include
ISS roll-control thruster arrays, and external accommodations for
angular momentum devices (gyrodynes) used for ISS attitude
control."
Power will
initially be provided by solar arrays on the Zvezda Service Module,
but eventually will come from the planned Science Power Platform.
However, Spacehab and Energia are considering boosting the Zvezda
power output “by several kilowatts” by adding extra solar array
panels, a task which would require an extra-vehicular activity
(EVA).
Life support in the
module will be able to support an hour-long press conference by six
crewmembers, or full-time occupation by one or two crewmembers.
Communications will be handled by the Spacehab Universal
Communications System (SHUCS), an Inmarsat-based L-band terminal and
antenna which will provide two-way Internet connectivity “with a
data rate similar to an ISDN connection.”
The use of the
Zarya nadir port is disputed. SpaceHab’s plans call for the
Enterprise to be attached at the nadir port of the Zarya control
module. However, that location is also claimed by Boeing and
Khrunichev for a commercial module, based on the Zarya, which is
already under construction. Spacehab and Energia have signed an
agreement with the Russian Aerospace Agency granting them the nadir
port. Boeing has said it will let the Russian space agency decide
who gets to use the disputed port.
The
Boeing/Khrunichev “Commercial Space Module” is 70% complete, and
is targeting a mid-2002 launch date. The Enterprise partnership
plans to launch their module on a Zenit rocket in March 2003, with
an IOC date “no later than May 2003.”
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