International cooperation – the key to survival on Earth and in space – Room: The Space Journal – ROOM Space Journal

Frank De Winne joined the European Space Agencys Astronaut Corps in January 2000 and made his first spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2002 in support of the Odissea mission. He served as a flight engineer and conducted 23 experiments in life and physical sciences, some using Europes Microgravity Science Glovebox. As part of Expedition 21, in 2009, Frank became the first European commander of the ISS. One of his tasks was to operate the Stations robotic arm to dock Japans first H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV). After his mission, he chaired the technical committee of the second EU-ESA Space Exploration Conference in Brussels in 2010. Frank became Head of ESAs European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany in August 2012. Since 2017, he has been in charge of Space Station operations at ESA, and in 2020 became ESAs ISS Programme Manager. Kirill Pletner, Editor-in-Chief of ROOMs sister publication Aerospace Sphere Journal, caught up with Frank De Winne to obtain his perspective on human space exploration, from priority areas in ESAs work to a personal view on current space trends.

The European Astronaut Training Centre has three main functions. The first is of course to train the astronauts who fly to space. This includes the basic training of new ESA astronauts and mission specific training including those astronauts from the ISS partners, which includes aspects of training on ESAs Columbus module and the European Science Programme and other elements of life aboard the ISS.

The second function is to make sure that ESA astronauts are recruited in good health and stay in good health throughout their careers and during their missions. And thirdly we support the astronauts during their operations, either on the ground or while theyre on the space station, by providing crew and family support, for example.

As the ISS programme manager, Im responsible for the entire implementation of the ISS programme within the European Space Agency. This includes all the technical engineering that is required to sustain operations on the ISS and the activities of the European Astronaut Centre. In addition, I am also responsible for all the interactions with the international partners and making sure that the ISS partners can continue to deliver a successful programme.

An interesting point about the ISS is that we can use it, on the one hand, for new scientific discoveries, but also to prepare for long-term exploration activities, such as the lunar gateway and related technology demonstrations.

Another very interesting perspective is that together with the international partnership, we are trying to build and to stimulate what we call the low Earth orbit (LEO) economy. This is important because a lot of commercial companies are now also interested in working in low Earth orbit. So, in the future, we hope to continue to use LEO ourselves as customers, but also encourage an entire commercial customer base for LEO applications. This would of course reduce the cost for the agencies, which would mean that we could spend more of our resources on further exploration beyond LEO, for example to the Moon.

Overall, the training is very similar. In the ESA and NASA system, much more attention is given to the operational skills and to work in the simulators, while I think the Russian system gives more attention to the theoretical aspects. Indeed, at the end of your training in Russia you have to do an exam, while in ESA there is no formal exam but the overall performance during your training is taken into account.

The training hall at EAC in Cologne Germany.

The first published priority for ESA is to enhance the relationship with the European Commission. The European Commission today has many space programmes, the most important being Copernicus and Galileo, which are implemented by the European Space Agency. The commission has ambitions for further flagship programmes on behalf of the whole European Union and its important that we can continue to work together to implement these programmes.

The second priority is to see how space can further contribute to the general economy and how we can encourage further commercialisation in space. We see that, especially in the United States, a lot of resources are devoted to the development of space activities by private actors. The best-known examples of that are, of course, Elon Musk with SpaceX and Jeff Bezos with Blue Origin, but there are also other actors that invest a lot of money in space. So we have to see how private actors in Europe can participate in this larger space economy.

The third priority is space safety and security. This is important because our societies are increasingly dependent on our assets in space. Think about all the transportation providers that use Galileo navigation signals to find their way around. Think about all the companies and governments that use Copernicus data to enhance their productiveness, or the use of the Copernicus system in managing disasters. Its very important that we can guarantee the use of space in the future and the safety and security of all our space assets. An important element in this is, of course, the management of space debris, in other words the control and reduction of space debris.

A fourth priority is to enhance specific ESA programmes, such as the science programme which is one of the fundaments of the European Space Agency. This would include both robotic and human exploration, and one of the programmes that we will present to the ministers in 2022 is a cooperative programme with the international partners that would see the first European walking on the Moon by 2030.

And, finally, a fifth priority is to undertake a programme of internal reform within ESA to help us to implement all our programmes in the most efficient way.

Frank De Winne with Materials Science Laboratory hardware in the ISS Kibo laboratory.

ISS Russian segment including the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module (2021).

ESA today is not looking into issues of reproduction in space, but it is looking into the effects that can influence long-term survivability in space, for example for missions to Mars. Some of these aspects are of course linked to radiation, which is why ESA is investing a lot of resources in radiation monitoring that will be conducted on the gateway element.

We are also looking into counter measures for astronauts who would have to work in the microgravity environment for the long term. The most promising are related to novel exercise devices that we will test on the space station in 2024 and then hopefully fly to the gateway.

However, ESA is also doing studies for more advanced systems that could be needed in the next 20 to 30 years. For example, the agency is studying the effects of artificial gravity, together with universities and other researchers, although, as of today, we have no projects to build artificial gravity into our space stations.

International Space Station (2021).

Hosting a visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to EAC.

ESA has a diversity programme for the entire workforce and aims to be an inclusive employer, but as astronauts are the most visible element of our workforce, we want to have a larger diversity and inclusiveness in our astronaut corps.

Today, spacecraft and space stations are developed for people that have very specific characteristics, who are in good health and have no physical disabilities. However, it is clear that there are plenty of people in European society that have all the qualities and capabilities needed to be a good astronaut, which is why we want to have a feasibility programme to include those people that, besides their physical disability, would be fully qualified to fly to space.

For the moment, we are only looking for people that have lost the lower parts of their limbs, or are generally of short stature, a criterion based on discussions with specialists from the Paralympic committee. We really hope that some of the people with physical disabilities that we select can become fully professional astronauts.

Frank De Winne shows Luxembourg Deputy Prime Minister Etienne Schneider a mock-up of Europe s Columbus laboratory on the ISS at EAC.

Thats a difficult question. What impressed me the most during my spaceflight was how beautiful our Earth looks, but also how fragile it is. You can see how thin our atmosphere is and its only like a small sheet of paper that surrounds the enormous planet.

From the operational side, what impressed me most during my spaceflight was the first tracking and capture of the new HTV module.

I really dont have any negative things about my spaceflight except for the fact that for six months youre away from your family and your friends. Although you can talk with them on the phone, or through the video from time to time, its impossible to have close physical contact with them.

From space the lines drawn between countries are invisible. For example, it is impossible to see national borders between Belgium, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

The most impressive thing that Ive seen from space is that our Earth has no borders. For example, its impossible to see from space the border between Belgium, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. This evoked for me a very strong feeling that, for some reason, we have drawn on the map of the Earth some fairly arbitrary lines that we now call borders and that today we are fighting over those lines.

We have to understand that we have only one planet, one Earth, and we are only one humanity in this immense universe. I really hope that in the future we find ways to live together on this planet as one single humanity.

Well, in recent years, the most significant developments are of course the investors in the US that have started developing private space capabilities. Think about the flights of Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin and of course, SpaceX, which has developed the Dragon Spacecraft. So we see, in the United States, a kind of space race developing between billionaires. I think this will have a very big impact on the future of space exploration.

Today, space is already available to non-professionals, but of course only if they are rich. I think sub-orbital flights will become more and more available for the less wealthy in the near future, but orbital flight will take a lot longer.

The only companies currently offering orbital flights on the commercial market are SpaceX and Axiom, and those flights are still very, very expensive. Of course, there are other options via the Russian government, including flights with Space Adventures, but they are as expensive and implemented through a government agency.

We also have to consider how we define space: do we define the flights that Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson have made as sub-orbital flights and define this as entering space, or do we confine the definition to orbital flights that circle around the Earth more than once?

SpaceX Dragon capsule delivering ISS crew.

I personally think it is unethical to implement one-way flights to Mars. We have to understand that on Mars that are no resources and we wouldnt survive, so a one-way trip to Mars would basically be a suicide trip. For this reason, I would certainly not support or fly on a one-way trip to Mars.

Commercial space station concept by Axiom.

The most important foundation that I have discovered in the 20 years that Ive worked in space is international cooperation. Throughout my time in ESA and the International Space Station programme we have faced many difficulties, but we were always able to overcome them thanks to the support of our international partners.

Lets think about the beginning of the ISS where we had the unfortunate space shuttle accident, or to some of the Russian Progress vehicles or the Soyuz that did not make it to the ISS. The partnership has been able to overcome these difficulties and the ISS is stronger than ever.

We were recently able to dock an additional element to the Russian part of the space station, the Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM) which carries the European Robotic Arm. This was only possible because we have thousands of people around the world who are convinced that working together is the best way forward. And despite all the political difficulties around the world today, we continue to work and provide science for the benefit of humankind every single day on the International Space Station.

Read more here:

International cooperation - the key to survival on Earth and in space - Room: The Space Journal - ROOM Space Journal