Roscosmos cosmonaut (left) Dmitri Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio work on spacesuit maintenance aboard the International Space Station in November 2022.
Credit: NASA
Russia’s decision to extend its support for the International Space Station (ISS) until 2028 is a boon for space science, say researchers who depend on the station to conduct their experiments.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year had thrown into question the future of the space station, and introduced tensions after many Western nations withdrew or ousted Russia from scientific collaborations, including space projects. Russia’s space agency Roscosmos had said in July 2022 that it would leave the ISS after 2024. But, on 27 April, Russia confirmed that it would support operations until 2028.
“It’s very reassuring to see it in black and white, that the extension’s happening,” says Adrienne Kish, an astrobiologist at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. “Some scientists had been biting their fingernails just waiting for the confirmation.”
“Right now, the ISS is pretty much the only microgravity spaceflight environment available to scientists,” says Anna-Lisa Paul, a plant space biologist at the University of Florida. “The ISS is the only game in town.”
The operation of the ISS relies on Russia working with 14 other countries — all of whom have condemned its war in Ukraine. But operation has seemed to continue smoothly since the invasion. The Russian and US orbital segments of the ISS depend on each other, and resupply of the space station relies in part on Russian Soyuz rockets, although resupply missions through commercial companies such as SpaceX are increasingly common. The ISS is expected to finish operating after 2030, according to NASA’s budget estimates.
Experiments continue
The news of Russia’s extended support for the ISS came as a relief to researchers like Kish and Paul, for whom the ability to send experiments to the space station is crucial. Kish studies how radiation exposure in space affects microorganisms and the biological signatures they leave behind. “We need to have access to microgravity and combinations of radiation that are very, very difficult to reproduce on the ground,” she says.
Experiments conducted by Kish and her collaborators could help inform the detection of signs of past or current life beyond Earth, including on Mars. “Thankfully, with the extension, we have a better chance of seeing those experiments get to flight,” she says.
Kish is a collaborator on the Exocube project, which involves the installation of an ‘exposure platform’ on the ISS that allows experiments to be exposed to the vacuum of space. Exocube is expected to launch to the ISS by the European Space Agency (ESA) and industry partners in 2024.
Paul, whose research uses microgravity to study plant behavior and epigenetic adaptation, is in the middle of an experiment comparing samples of plants grown on the space station with plants grown on Earth. The next batch of samples is expected to launch in June, on a SpaceX rocket.
Jean-Pierre de Vera, an astrobiologist at the German Aerospace Center’s Microgravity User Support Center in Cologne, says that although he and his colleagues have been obliged by the German Aerospace Center to suspend scientific collaborations with Russian researchers, they still rely on cosmonauts to conduct their experiments on the space station. The continuation of the ISS until at least 2028 means “there is much more stability” for his research.
De Vera led the Biology and Mars Experiment (BIOMEX) — a joint ESA–Roscosmos space-exposure experiment to investigate the limits of life and potential habitability of Mars, which launched to the ISS in 2014. He is preparing for a follow-up experiment called BIOSIGN, which is expected to launch in 2026.
Commercial launches
Researchers expect that, beyond 2028, there will be more reliance on private companies for research in space. Kish says that the Lunar Gateway — which is expected to be first space station orbiting the Moon and is slated to launch in 2024 — will provide an important platform.
“The extension of the International Space Station enables researchers to continue transformative research that can only be done in space,” said Diane Malarik, acting division director of NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences Division, in a statement to
Nature
. Being able to continue this research aboard the station, alongside commercial efforts is crucial to maintaining scientific momentum, said Malarik.
ESA’s director of human and robotic exploration David Parker noted that ESA member states decided in 2022 to extend Europe’s participation in the ISS to 2030.
In a statement, Parker said that new science facilities on ESA’s Columbus laboratory aboard the station “will include a 3D bio-printer, an external exobiology package and new instrumentation for heat transfer research”.
Roscosmos did not respond to
Nature
’s request for comment.
article_text: Russia’s decision to extend its support for the International Space Station (ISS) until 2028 is a boon for space science, say researchers who depend on the station to conduct their experiments.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year had thrown into question the future of the space station, and introduced tensions after many Western nations withdrew or ousted Russia from scientific collaborations, including space projects. Russia’s space agency Roscosmos had said in July 2022 that it would leave the ISS after 2024. But, on 27 April, Russia confirmed that it would support operations until 2028.
“It’s very reassuring to see it in black and white, that the extension’s happening,” says Adrienne Kish, an astrobiologist at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. “Some scientists had been biting their fingernails just waiting for the confirmation.”
“Right now, the ISS is pretty much the only microgravity spaceflight environment available to scientists,” says Anna-Lisa Paul, a plant space biologist at the University of Florida. “The ISS is the only game in town.”
The operation of the ISS relies on Russia working with 14 other countries — all of whom have condemned its war in Ukraine. But operation has seemed to continue smoothly since the invasion. The Russian and US orbital segments of the ISS depend on each other, and resupply of the space station relies in part on Russian Soyuz rockets, although resupply missions through commercial companies such as SpaceX are increasingly common. The ISS is expected to finish operating after 2030, according to NASA’s budget estimates.
The news of Russia’s extended support for the ISS came as a relief to researchers like Kish and Paul, for whom the ability to send experiments to the space station is crucial. Kish studies how radiation exposure in space affects microorganisms and the biological signatures they leave behind. “We need to have access to microgravity and combinations of radiation that are very, very difficult to reproduce on the ground,” she says.
Experiments conducted by Kish and her collaborators could help inform the detection of signs of past or current life beyond Earth, including on Mars. “Thankfully, with the extension, we have a better chance of seeing those experiments get to flight,” she says.
Kish is a collaborator on the Exocube project, which involves the installation of an ‘exposure platform’ on the ISS that allows experiments to be exposed to the vacuum of space. Exocube is expected to launch to the ISS by the European Space Agency (ESA) and industry partners in 2024.
Paul, whose research uses microgravity to study plant behavior and epigenetic adaptation, is in the middle of an experiment comparing samples of plants grown on the space station with plants grown on Earth. The next batch of samples is expected to launch in June, on a SpaceX rocket.
Jean-Pierre de Vera, an astrobiologist at the German Aerospace Center’s Microgravity User Support Center in Cologne, says that although he and his colleagues have been obliged by the German Aerospace Center to suspend scientific collaborations with Russian researchers, they still rely on cosmonauts to conduct their experiments on the space station. The continuation of the ISS until at least 2028 means “there is much more stability” for his research.
De Vera led the Biology and Mars Experiment (BIOMEX) — a joint ESA–Roscosmos space-exposure experiment to investigate the limits of life and potential habitability of Mars, which launched to the ISS in 2014. He is preparing for a follow-up experiment called BIOSIGN, which is expected to launch in 2026.
Researchers expect that, beyond 2028, there will be more reliance on private companies for research in space. Kish says that the Lunar Gateway — which is expected to be first space station orbiting the Moon and is slated to launch in 2024 — will provide an important platform.
“The extension of the International Space Station enables researchers to continue transformative research that can only be done in space,” said Diane Malarik, acting division director of NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences Division, in a statement to Nature. Being able to continue this research aboard the station, alongside commercial efforts is crucial to maintaining scientific momentum, said Malarik.
ESA’s director of human and robotic exploration David Parker noted that ESA member states decided in 2022 to extend Europe’s participation in the ISS to 2030.
In a statement, Parker said that new science facilities on ESA’s Columbus laboratory aboard the station “will include a 3D bio-printer, an external exobiology package and new instrumentation for heat transfer research”.
Roscosmos did not respond to Nature’s request for comment.
vocabulary:
俄罗斯延长对ISS的支持的消息让Kish和Paul等研究人员松了一口气，因为能够将实验发送到空间站对他们至关重要。Kish研究太空中辐射暴露如何影响微生物及其留下的生物特征。她说：“我们需要获得微重力和辐射的组合，这在地面上非常难以复制。”Kish和她的合作者进行的实验可以帮助探索地球以外的过去或现在的生命迹象，包括火星上的。她说：“幸运的是，有了延期，我们有更好的机会看到这些实验被发射出去。”Kish是Exocube项目的合作者，该项目涉及在ISS上安装一个“暴露平台”，允许实验暴露在太空真空中。Exocube预计将由欧洲航天局（ESA）和行业合作伙伴于2024年发射到ISS。
Paul的研究利用微重力研究植物行为和表观遗传适应，他正在进行一项实验，比较在空间站上生长的植物样本与地面上生长的植物样本。下一批样本预计将于6月份乘坐SpaceX火箭发射。德国航空中心的微重力用户支持中心位于科隆的天体生物学家Jean-Pierre de Vera表示，尽管他和他的同事被德国航空中心要求暂停与俄罗斯研究人员的科学合作，但他们仍然依赖宇航员在空间站上进行
long_sentences:
{'sentence 1': 'Russia’s decision to extend its support for the International Space Station (ISS) until 2028 is a boon for space science, say researchers who depend on the station to conduct their experiments.',
'sentence 2': 'The operation of the ISS relies on Russia working with 14 other countries — all of whom have condemned its war in Ukraine. But operation has seemed to continue smoothly since the invasion.'}
