"Roskosmos" simplifies the conditions for conducting experiments on the ISS

This, of course, is about the Russian segment of the International Space Station. Recently it became known that the Russian Academy of Sciences and Roskosmos approved a new "Action Plan to improve the efficiency of the use of the ISS, including on commercial terms." The main point of this plan is to change the current GOST for conducting experiments. Now access to the station to conduct experiments is difficult for organizations that are not related to the rocket and space industry, and who do not have experience in conducting space experiments. This question requires an immediate solution, according to Izvestia.



As for GOST, the RAS and Roskomos are planning to develop amendments to GOST R 52017-2003 “Space Devices. The order of preparation and conduct of the space experiment "with the help of the rocket and space corporation Energia and the main scientific institute of the rocket and space industry TsNIIMash .



It is assumed that the new version of the standard will take into account the proposals of both organizations to simplify the procedure for preparing scientific equipment for the space experiment, including in the part of military acceptance. Procedures for making the appropriate changes to the GOST are to be completed in the first half of 2018, the press service of the Roscosmos State Corporation said.



Now the main difficulty for organizations that want to conduct their own experiments in orbit is the need to independently arrange the documentation. In addition, it is necessary to adapt to the necessary requirements of scientific equipment. If the director of the experiments does not have the relevant experience and resources, then a number of official documents should be developed and agreed upon. When developing such documents, companies make a number of mistakes, which leads to poor quality of documentation.



Remarks should be eliminated, which increases the duration of the experiments - in some cases, the duration of the preparatory base is several years.



“We have a short program of scientific experiments for the second year in a row. Most of the experiments that continue for several years. A lot of contracts stopped because of the most severe control of military acceptance. A lot of equipment is stuck, ”the source in the rocket and space industry, who wished to remain anonymous, comments on the situation to Izvestia.



On September 12, another space expedition set off for the ISS, whose flight program provides for more than 50 Russian biological, biotechnological, geophysical, technical and medical experiments. Unfortunately, among all these experiments there is not one new one.



Understanding the problem, they initially wanted to solve it, having assigned the technological organization of work on experiments at TsNIImash. The institute had to ensure the organization of experiments, thus freeing scientific teams from most organizational tasks. Somewhat later, all parties involved in conducting experiments on the ISS took up the solution of the problem: Roskosmos, RSC Energia, TsNIImash.



The first experiment, the preparation for which was conducted by all these organizations, concerned the use of a 3D printer for printing biomaterials. Usually the time to prepare for the experiment with the solution of all organizational issues would take more than four years. But collectively, this period was reduced to a year.



The simplification of the participation procedure is carried out by Roscosmos in order to expand the number of customers of the experiments. And this plan, in turn, corresponds to the strategy of the state corporation within the framework of solving the problem of minimizing state expenditures on servicing the plant. Customers of “Roscosmos” will be able to work with this organization on the principle of one window.



Simplification planned to introduce about 10 years ago, but, unfortunately, so far little has been done in this direction. “For the first time, this issue emerged at a high level somewhere in 2007–2008, when the Federal Space Agency (the predecessor of the state corporation Roscosmos) held a scientific and technical council that met to solve the problem of the lack of necessary experiments on the ISS. It turned out that there is no direct contact between the customer of the experiments in the person of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the performer in the person of Roskosmos. Apparently, that process continues to evolve and is bearing fruit. They did the station, but didn’t think how to use it and attract scientists, ”said Ivan Moiseev, scientific director of the Space Policy Institute.



According to RSC Energia, on the ISS, from 2000 to 2016, 83 experiments were completed, another 195 experiments were in varying degrees of implementation or preparation on Earth. The implementation of these scientific works by December 2016 required the use of 4.8 tons of cargo on the ISS.