Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

March 14, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is planning to develop a new type of space tugboat that will help achieve the controlled fall of the International Space Station after it is decommissioned in 2030.

The plan was mentioned in the draft federal budget for 2024 released by the White House last Thursday. The White House allocated a $27.2 billion budget for NASA in fiscal year 2024, including $180 million to "start the development of a new space tugboat." It is reported that the planned space tugboat can help the International Space Station achieve safe derailment and can also be used in other space activities.

The budget needs to be approved by the U.S. Congress before it can finally take effect. On Monday, NASA revealed more details about the space tugboat program at a news conference to discuss the draft budget, such as the preliminary price of developing a space tugboat.

"our cost is estimated to be a little less than $1 billion," said Kathy Lueders, head of manned spaceflight at NASA. "our plan is to issue a demand proposal and then further optimize the project price. This will give us a good start to key capabilities in 2024."

The new space tugboat will complement the existing derailment capabilities of the International Space Station's partners. Current plans for a safe and controlled crash of the International Space Station depend on the thrust generated by starting the engine of the Russian cargo spacecraft Progress.

"but we are also developing our own capabilities, and as we add more modules, this supplement will help spacecraft better locate their targets and re-enter the atmosphere safely," Ludders said. "

She added: "as you have seen in the past and last year, the development of alternative approaches is very important for ourselves and for our partners." therefore, owning an American autonomous derailment vehicle is another key to our space operations and the International Space Station derailment program. "

The example cited by Ludes may be coolant leaks on two Russian spaceships that recently docked with the International Space Station. On December 14, 2022, a manned Soyuz spacecraft ran out of coolant. On February 11 this year, a progress spacecraft also had a coolant leak.

At present, the investigation into two spacecraft coolant leaks is continuing. Russia blames the Soyuz coolant leak on a possible micrometeoroid impact and speculates that the coolant leak in the Progress spacecraft may be related to external problems during launch.

Russia says it hopes to leave the International Space Station project "after 2024" as soon as possible and focus on building its own space station in low-Earth orbit. This information could affect NASA's plans to develop a new space tugboat.

NASA revealed other budget details at a news conference on Monday. The agency's new scientific director, Nicky Fox, said the draft budget would allocate $30 million for NASA in fiscal year 2024 (from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024) to support the European space agency's ExoMars probe looking for clues to life on Mars.

The rover, called Rosalind Franklin (Rosalind Franklin), was scheduled to be launched by a Russian rocket last fall and landed on the surface of Mars using a Russian-built lander. But the European Space Agency (European Space Agency) began to reschedule its mission last summer, and it seems unlikely that the rover will be launched before 2028.

It's not clear what NASA will eventually do for the ExoMars rover.

"the next few years haven't been decided yet," Fox said of plans beyond 2024. "this is part of the future Mars strategy we are studying."

In the draft budget released on Thursday, NASA's Artemis moon landing program will receive $8.1 billion next year. NASA officials say the money will enable them to achieve two major goals in the near future: Artemis 2 and Artemis 3, which were launched in November 2024 and December 2025, respectively. Artemis 2 will send astronauts to fly around the moon, while Artemis 3 plans to land astronauts at the moon's south pole, the first landing on the moon since Apollo 17 in December 1972.

But NASA officials also said on Monday that the Artemis 4 mission, originally scheduled for launch in 2027, has now been postponed to 2028. If all goes according to plan, the Artemis 4 mission will assemble the Moon Gate space station in lunar orbit and send astronauts to the moon.

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