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By Tony Rice, NASA Ambassador

The first module of the International Space Station (ISS) was launched 23 years ago today. It was given the name "Zarya", the Russian word for "Dawn" to signify the new era in international cooperation in Space.

The first US Component launched the following month. First crew arrived on November 2. 2000. The ISS has continuously had crew aboard since then. Another way to look at this was the last time all of humanity has been on Earth.

You still see the ISS referenced as Zarya in the Air Force's tracking data of objects orbiting Earth. NASA also refers to this section of the station as the Functional Cargo Block (FGB).

Zarya along with the 16 other modules that make up the football-field-sized ISS will be visible this week. There are currently 7 astronauts aboard the station including 3 Americans, 2 Russians, along with Japanese and French astronauts.

The ISS will rise on the southwestern horizon at 5:52 p.m. on Saturday, pass nearly directly overhead before disappearing into the Earth's shadow six minutes later. When it first becomes visible it will be over the Gulf of Mexico near New Orleans.

Monday Nov 22

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Look up for the International Space Station - WRAL.com

An Australian company is part of an international effort to recycle dangerous space junk into rocket fuel in space.

The orbit our planet depends on is getting clogged with debris from old spacecraft. Dead satellites and spent rocket parts are whizzing around at speeds of up to 28,000 kilometres an hour, posing a threat to communications satellites and the International Space Station.

At those speeds, even a small screw or a fleck of paint poses a risk to facilities such as the ISS, as well as the humans in them.

Last weekend, Russia fired a missile and destroyed one of its own satellites, sending debris flying. The United States said that debris now threatens the interests of all nations. The worst-case scenario is cascading collisions between smaller and smaller bits of space junk until orbits become unusable, a situation known as the Kessler Effect.

South Australian company Neumann Space has developed an in-space electric propulsion system that can be used in low Earth orbit to extend the missions of spacecraft, move satellites, or de-orbit them.

Now Neumann is working on a plan with three other companies to turn space junk into fuel for that propulsion system.

Japanese start-up Astroscale has already demonstrated how it can use satellites to capture bits of debris in space.

Nanorocks, in the US, is working on a plan using advanced robotics to store and cut up that debris while it is still in orbit. Another US company, Cislunar, is developing a space foundry to melt debris into metal rods.

And Neumann Spaces propulsion system can use those metal rods as fuel their system ionises the metal which then creates thrust to move objects around orbit.

Chief executive officer Herve Astier said when Neumann was approached to be part of a supply chain to melt metal in space, he thought it was a futuristic plan, and would not be as easy as it looks.

But they got a grant from Nasa so we built a prototype and it works, he said.

We did a live technology demonstration.

One can grab a piece of debris, one can cut the debris open, one can melt the debris, and we can use that.

Once objects are sent into orbit, they can be there forever unless they float out of orbit (de-orbit) and burn up in Earths atmosphere (or occasionally hit Earths surface).

As the space junk problem worsens, institutions around the world are trying to come up with solutions, from magnets to space claws to harpoons.

Australian researchers are also working on the problem.

Saber Astronautics has won a Nasa grant to develop a drag sail, which will launch from a spacecraft at the end of its life and drag it out of orbit.

Sydneys Electro Optic Systems, working with the University of Canberra, has developed laser technology that can nudge junk away from potential collisions, or towards the atmosphere.

The Australian Institute of Machine Learning has a grant to improve detection and tracking of debris, and a new surveillance radar in Western Australia will help with that too.

Recycling the junk, instead of capturing it or destroying it, is another dimension again.

Astier says it is still futuristic, but now he can see that its possible.

A lot of people are putting money into debris. Often its to take it down into the atmosphere and burn it up. But if its there and you can capture it and reuse it, it makes sense from a business perspective, because youre not shipping it up there, he said.

Its like developing a gas station in space.

More here:
Gas station in space: new plan to make rocket fuel from junk in Earths orbit - The Guardian

NASA astronaut Victor Glover, the first black astronaut to arrive at the space station for a long-term stay, launched to the International Space Station, at a time where many were forced to isolate due to the pandemic, and returned to a world where vaccines had begun rolling out.

After spending so much time away, and in such challenging circumstances, how does one adjust? What kind of training and mental fortitude go into a spaceflight mission taking place against such an unusual backdrop? What fears run through an astronauts mind before they hurl themselves into space in the pursuit of science?

Related: How To Become An Astronaut

For every story about breaking free of the "surly bonds" and finding adventure among the stars though, theres another side of that trip into the unknown. Sure, humanity isn't planet-hopping across the solar system or encountering cosmic horrors like we do in the best space horror movies, but as we all remember from the 1978 classic Alien, "in space, no one can hear you scream."

We wanted to understand the process astronauts undergo before heading out into space, not through simulator training, but how they prepare themselves mentally. For those of us non-astronauts, the closest we'll get is the International Space Station VR experience.

The following conversation has been edited for length.

Space.com: Is there a particular psychological profile that suits an astronaut?

Victor Glover: There is, absolutely. We have psychiatrists and psychologists that are a part of our selection process that are a part of the maintenance of our health and well-being for astronauts as they're here annually. And then while you're in space, thats a very important part of your mission support team.

Space.com: But what does it take to be the man that was spacewalking for around six hours earlier this year?

Glover: You know, there are just things about living in what we call the ICE environment isolated, confined, extreme environments. People who winter over in Antarctica, people who live on submarines, or deploy in our military out into the middle of nowhere, living in tents for months on end, fighting in combat. Those things require a certain type of mentality. And so, youve got to have mettle.

Theres a lot of NASA's research into resilience and how to quantify it, how to find it when looking for candidates, but also in your workforce that you have.

How do you instill it? What things do you do to highlight it and then reinforce it? Thats a big one. There are probably tons of other things, but I would say that [mettle] is one of the most important. Resilience is a big part of it.

Related: What It's Like to Become a NASA Astronaut: 10 Surprising Facts

Space.com: It sounds like a huge part of being a successful astronaut is a sense of adaptability. You have an impressive history, and we know that you yourself became an astronaut following military service. Did you feel this helped with your astronaut training?

Glover: We all come from these various walks of life science, engineering, education, the military and we bring these skills from all parts of, you know, all types of professions. But at the end of the day, its not what you used to do thats going to make you successful here: Its what youre able to adapt to, what youre able to become no matter what you did before.

Its not going to be enough to make you a successful astronaut, so you really have to stretch personally and professionally. I think that resilience, adaptability, and flexibility are very important.

And having a healthy sense of humor, being able to just kind of laugh at things. Youre going to make mistakes. Your colleagues are going to make mistakes. And, at the end of the day, if you can have a laugh at yourself, that perspective is healthy.

Space.com: Spaceflight has been part of humanity for decades now, but we're still some way off it being commonplace (if youll excuse the phrase), despite recent advances. How much of a fear of the unknown is there with even the most standard missions?

Glover: I think that first of all, theres no such thing as a standard mission. As soon as we start believing and treating things like they are standard in this business, we've taken the first step and lined up whats going to go in the mishap report we were complacent.

There are no standard missions. I think understanding that is one of the things that permeates the way we train, and the way we operate and fly the space station. And soon these Artemis missions [crewed lunar landings], even though theyll be shorter, will receive the scrutiny they deserve because theyre so unique.

Sending humans into space will never be commonplace, even right now with whats going on in the world. Were looking at William Shatner flying to space. Thats amazing, but thats not commonplace. More of that wont make it commonplace, it will still be unique.

And theres the unknown, you know? I think thats one of the reasons that education and training are so important. Theres no way to always make the unknown, known. But, you prepare for the unknown with just a solid foundation of education. You have enough tools that you can use in a given situation so that when you face the unknown, you make one decision at a time. You do one thing at a time and you just keep working on that problem.

Fear is when youre not prepared. We respect the environment were going into, but I wouldnt use the term fear. Weve done all the preparation we can, which emotionally desensitizes you, so you can focus on your tasks.

Space.com: Without meaning to sound morbid, what is the most frightening thought thats running through your mind ahead of a launch? What's the most frightening thought when heading into space?

Glover: The most frightening thought for me was this could go badly, right? This could go badly and I could not come back. Ive thought about that. Ive been deployed in combat before, so I thought about it even before trying to hurl off the planet, at least for a really extended long period of time.

But it was the fact that my family was right there, like my parents, my wife, and that its also so public that that part would be a challenge for my family. The hardest part for me was just knowing that if something happened, they would be dealing with it without me, you know. Not in terms of like I was Superman and going to swoop in and save them, but just that they were going to have to figure it out.

Hurling skyward on top of high explosives, as crazy as it sounds, was awesome. A lot of it was unknown, it was my first time flying into space, but I had things to focus on. I had to do the thing I was trained to do, which put things in a great perspective for me, it was fun, even though it was unknown.

Space.com: It's clear that those risking their lives in the pursuit of science are made of stern stuff. But what about coming back? How does life change when you go from the International Space Station and come back to Earth? After an astronaut has been to space, is there a mental 'hangover' associated with having achieved what so many never will and the relative mundanity of life back on Earth afterwards?

Glover: Coming back from space can really be disorienting, literally and figuratively. We launched in a pandemic, and there were no vaccines. We came back, and there are vaccines, and were still figuring it out and working our way through that.

Likewise, I landed and my eldest daughter graduated from high school, and that was great, I just fell into that. We wanted to celebrate her and we had the transition of getting her to college, but it took my mind off of wow, Im back on Earth.

That's just one experience. Had I landed last year, while the pandemic was in full swing, I think in a world where you want to be closer to people, having been in space, that couldve been really disorienting.

Being in space is like living a dream you can float, you can lift heavy things. And then coming back to Earth, its like a concentrated, extra strong dose of reality. But looking at Earth from space, as beautiful as it was, it was a reminder that, next to my crewmates, everything I love is down on Earth so I tried to make the most of being in space. I did everything up there I wanted to do, so that when I came back, I had closure. Coming back to Earth really felt like what I needed at the time. I wouldnt call it a hangover it was just great to be back home and see my girls and my dog.

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How astronauts prepare for the unknown in space: An interview with NASA's Victor Glover - Space.com

On Nov. 15, 2021, Russia destroyed one of its own old satellites using a missile launched from the surface of the Earth, creating a massive debris cloud that threatens many space assets, including astronauts onboard the International Space Station. This happened only two weeks after the United Nations General Assembly First Committee formally recognized the vital role that space and space assets play in international efforts to better the human experience and the risks military activities in space pose to those goals.

The U.N. First Committee deals with disarmament, global challenges and threats to peace that affect the international community. On Nov. 1, it approved a resolution that creates an open-ended working group. The goals of the group are to assess current and future threats to space operations, determine when behavior may be considered irresponsible, make recommendations on possible norms, rules and principles of responsible behaviors, and contribute to the negotiation of legally binding instruments including a treaty to prevent an arms race in space.

We are two space policy experts with specialties in space law and the business of commercial space. We are also the president and vice president at the National Space Society, a nonprofit space advocacy group. It is refreshing to see the U.N. acknowledge the harsh reality that peace in space remains uncomfortably tenuous. This timely resolution has been approved as activities in space become ever more important and as shown by the Russian test tensions continue to rise.

Outer space is far from a lawless vacuum.

Activities in space are governed by the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which is currently ratified by 111 nations. The treaty was negotiated in the shadow of the Cold War when only two nations the Soviet Union and the U.S. had spacefaring capabilities.

While the Outer Space Treaty offers broad principles to guide the activities of nations, it does not offer detailed rules of the road. Essentially, the treaty assures freedom of exploration and use of space to all humankind. There are just two caveats to this, and multiple gaps immediately present themselves.

The first caveat states that the Moon and other celestial bodies must be used exclusively for peaceful purposes. It omits the rest of space in this blanket prohibition. The only guidance offered in this respect is found in the treatys preamble, which recognizes a common interest in the progress of the exploration and use of space for peaceful purposes. The second caveat says that those conducting activities in space must do so with due regard to the corresponding interests of all other States Parties to the Treaty.

A major problem arises from the fact that the treaty does not offer clear definitions for either peaceful purposes or due regard.

While the Outer Space Treaty does specifically prohibit placing nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction anywhere in space, it does not prohibit the use of conventional weapons in space or the use of ground-based weapons against assets in space. Finally, it is also unclear if some weapons like Chinas new nuclear capable partial-orbit hypersonic missile should fall under the treatys ban.

The vague military limitations built into the treaty leave more than enough room for interpretation to result in conflict.

Space has been used for military purposes since Germanys first V2 rocket launch in 1942.

Many early satellites, GPS technology, a Soviet Space Station and even NASAs space shuttle were all either explicitly developed for or have been used for military purposes.

With increasing commercialization, the lines between military and civilian uses of space are less blurry. Most people are able to identify terrestrial benefits of satellites like weather forecasts, climate monitoring and internet connectivity but are unaware that they also increase agricultural yields and monitor human rights violations. The rush to develop a new space economy based on activities in and around Earth and the Moon suggests that humanitys economic dependence on space will only increase.

However, satellites that provide terrestrial benefits could or already do serve military functions as well. We are forced to conclude that the lines between military and civilian uses remain sufficiently indistinct to make a potential conflict more likely than not. Growing commercial operations will also provide opportunities for disputes over operational zones to provoke governmental military responses.

While there has not yet been any direct military conflict in space, there has been an escalation of efforts by nations to prove their military prowess in and around space. Russias test is only the most recent example. In 2007, China tested an anti-satellite weapon and created an enormous debris cloud that is still causing problems. The International Space Station had to dodge a piece from that Chinese test as recently as Nov. 10, 2021.

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Similar demonstrations by the U.S. and India were far less destructive in terms of creating debris, but they were no more welcomed by the international community.

The new U.N. resolution is important because it sets in motion the development of new norms, rules and principles of responsible behavior. Properly executed, this could go a long way toward providing the guardrails needed to prevent conflict in space.

The U.N. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space has been addressing space activities since 1959.

However, the remit of the 95-member committee is to promote international cooperation and study legal problems arising from the exploration of outer space. It lacks any ability to enforce the principles and guidelines set forth in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty or even to compel actors into negotiations.

The U.N. resolution from November 2021 requires the newly created working group to meet two times a year in both 2022 and 2023. While this pace of activity is glacial compared with the speed of commercial space development, it is a major step in global space policy.

More:
Space law hasn't been changed since 1967 but the UN aims to update laws and keep space peaceful - The Conversation US

Last week, November 15, Russia has launched its anti-satellite weapon (ASAT) to purposefully shatter the non-operational 4,410-pound Cosmos 1408 satellite that was launched into space in 1982. However, it caused a huge cloud of space junk that includes 1,500 pieces of trackable size debris.

This was not received well by many and one firm expressed their concerns about the "irresponsible act" of Russia for endangering the crew onboard the International Space Station (ISS) and all spacefaring nations.

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)SpaceJunk, Miguel Soares, 2001, 3D animation.

Space junk is debris from discarded launch vehicles or parts of a spacecraft floating around in space hundreds of miles from Earth's surface. As Science Times previously reported, space junk poses a great dangeras it increases the risk of collision with satellites of the space station.

But recently, a huge cloud of space junk was created after Russia purposefully shattered its non-operational 40-year-old satellite using its anti-satellite weapon. This move was criticized by countries and other space firms, calling it irresponsible.

Daily Mailreported that based on sensor readings of the EU Space Surveillance and Tracking (EU SST), experts confirmed the break up of Cosmos 1408 in low Earth orbit that has now become even more congested than it was before.

They said that kinetic anti-satellite tests are usually carried out against objects for a strategic purpose or to demonstrate or test the technological capabilities of a new technology developed by a country.

But this is not the first time that a satellite was purposefully shattered as China, the US, and India have done the same in the past and created massive trails of space junk. The EU SST said that those kinds of tests lead to the creation of more space debris that puts satellites, spacecraft, and astronauts in danger.

RELATED ARTICLE: Space Junk Cleanup Now Possible Thru Tiny AuroraSat-1 CubeSat To Be Launched Later This Year

Four NASA astronauts, who arrived at the space station a week before via the SpaceX Dragon capsule, were awoken when the space agency called them and instructed them to the spacecraft docked to the space station. Similarly, two cosmonauts were told to take cover in their Soyuz spacecraft. The astronauts stayed in these orbital lifeboats for about two hours as the ISS passed through the huge cloud of space junk from Russia's ASAT.

NASA was forced to cancel a handful of planned activities and warned that the schedule might be in flux due to the unexpected event. Mission Control said in a statementthat it was a "crazy way to start a mission" for the astronauts who had just recently arrived.

Aerospace Security Project deputy director Kaitlyn Johnson said that they were shocked that Russia chose to test ASAT the way they did, which shredded the satellite whose debris intersects with the path of the space station and putting the lives of the astronauts on board in danger.

NBC Newsreported that the Russian defense ministry confirmed the test and denies any risk to the ISS. They claim that the US was aware of the resulting fragment but that those did not and will not pose any threat to the orbital stations, spacecraft, and space activities.

So, the real question is whether ASAT tests are advisable. Despite space being a finite resource, there is a theoretical limit as to how much it can hold called the "orbital carrying capacity."

According to The Atlantic, a day might come that humans would exceed this capacity that bands of orbit become so crowded that it will become more difficult for new and defunct satellites to navigate, and blowing up satellites in space will only make it worse.

RELATED ARTICLE: Russia Confirms Destroying Old Rocket; Tells NASA Anti-Satellite Missile Didn't Harm ISS Astronauts

Check out more news and information on Spacein Science Times.

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Russia's Anti-Satellite Weapon Test Created 1,500 Space Junk, Prompting Astronauts in the ISS to Take Shelter in Escape Pods - Science Times