Director General of the European Space Agency (Esa) Jean-Jacques Dordain has expressed concern over the International Space Station’s (ISS) future. Currently funding allows for the continual running of the facility until 2015, however, Mr Dordain is asking that involved countries need to make a decision in 2010, and he hopes that it will agree funding until at least 2020.
Speaking of the need to allow the ISS to run for a longer period, Mr Dordain explained “I am convinced that stopping the station in 2015 would be a mistake because we cannot attract the best scientists if we are telling them today ‘you are welcome on the space station but you’d better be quick because in 2015 we close the shop.” Allowing experiments to be carried out in an anti-gravity environment can provide an array of insights into science, most recently of how both degenerative and infectious diseases may work. Putting a timestamp on the facilities operation may damage future work.
Awaiting approval from Europe, Canada, Japan, Russia and US, it is the latter country which could ultimately determine the ISS’s fate. With the Obama administration currently drawing up new proposals for their space exploration, the future of the ISS and the funding needed will be directly linked to reviews of new rockets and spacecraft wanted for the new American vision. However, Mr Dordain urged that due to budgeting, transportation processes, and the possible building of new hardware, a decision is needed sooner rather than later.
