introduction
Artist’s rendering of the concept envisaged for CSTS in early 2008
Artist’s impression of the concept planned for mid-2008 before the announcement of the orbital module’s abandonment
THE Crew space transportation system (CSTS), formerly known as Advanced Crew Transportation System (ACTS), is a system of transportation (transportation is the act of transporting something or someone from one place to another, most…) of the crew operating in close cooperation between the European Space Agency (The European Space Agency (ESA) (in English European Space Agency: ESA) is…) (ESA) and the Space Agency (A space agency is a government agency whose purpose is to expand space to research and develop.. .) Russian (Roskosmos), which aims to develop a spacecraft (By a spacecraft or spacecraft or spacecraft is understood a vehicle that enables de se …) for operations in a Low Earth Orbit (Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is a zone of Earth orbit…), such as operations at the service of the International Space Station (The International Space Station (ISS) is a habitat…) (ISS), but also for the exploration of the moon (The Exploration ung of the moon begins with the start of the first space programs in…) and would be usable beyond that. This study was developed as a strategic basis to keep the European human presence in space program viable and to respond to NASA (The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (“Administration national de…)”) declaring its vision for space exploration, with the Orion ship, successor to the space shuttle (a space shuttle is a vehicle in space travel…), which is being developed without the participation of foreign partners.
Historical
The ACTS itself follows the project (A project is an irreversible commitment with uncertain, non-reproducible outcome a…) to replace Kliper (Kliper is a future Russian space shuttle project originally planned to that…) that has been envisaged since year 2000 as a replacement for Soyuz (Soyuz (from Russian Союз, Union) denotes a family of ships…), but which was financially too ambitious for Russia. In 2005, Europe’s (Europe is a terrestrial region that can be considered a…) refusal to participate in the development of Kliper signed its death sentence, at least temporarily (Arrêt de mort (Death Sentence) is a science fiction short story written by Isaac…). The Russians appear to be holding the Kliper project in reserve for better financial days. The Russian-European ambitions initiated with Kliper are therefore revised downwards and the ACTS is then considered an improved Soyuz, a Euro-Soyuz, the CSTS.
Ideas
As studies currently stand, the CSTS or Euro-Soyuz, the latest generation manned spacecraft, would consist of the following 3 elements:
- an orbital module, or European habitation module, based on the experience gained with the European Columbus Laboratory (The European Columbus Laboratory (or Columbus Orbital Facility, more commonly simply referred to as…) (ISS);
- a Russian atmosphere re-entry capsule, based on the long-established Soyuz capsule, certainly enlarged for a crew of 6;
- a European propulsion module based on that of the ATV.
The manufacturers Thales Alenia Space (Thales Alenia Space is a Franco-Italian joint venture founded on April 10, 2007 by…) and EADS-Astrium are already in the middle of a commercial battle to develop the IT systems that will power the Avionics manage this last generation spacecraft.
- During the Farnborough 2008 exhibition (July), the Russian leaders of Roscosmos and the makers of Energia (Energia or Energiya (Энергия in Russian) is a launch vehicle…) reported a change of direction (literally meaning or materializing the alignment direction east (sunrise…) in favor of a conical capsule (conic sections represent a widespread family of plane algebraic curves,…) type Apollo, planned for 6 astronauts, connected to a propulsion module (or service module), but on the other hand ignoring the orbital module, around the vehicle (A vehicle is a mobile machine that makes it possible to move people or des charges d’un …) as well as its budget (A budget is a preliminary accounting document that distinguishes income and expenses.).
developments
The CSTS is currently in an initial study phase (The word phase can have multiple meanings, it is used in multiple fields and…) for 18 months (Le mois (from lat. mensis “month”, and formerly au plur. ” ).Menstruation») is a period…), from September 2006 to spring (spring (from lat. primus, first, and tempus, time, this season used to denote the…) 2008. The result of this study is planned for the European Council of Ministers at the end of October 2008. In agreement with the ESA, in 2007 the Japanese Aerospace Research Agency (Aerospace (Singular Common Name) is a scientific discipline which…) (JAXA ) was associated with the Some rumors also suggest a possible rapprochement with the Canadian space agency (The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) or in English Canadian Space Agency (CSA), is the service…) (ASC) and the Indian Space Agency.