Not having studied the ISS in any detail to this point I was surprised to find that as of the next flight, STS-121 with Assembly ULF1.1, the station will look like:
Six further flights will vastly increase the power generation capabilities of the station.
The last of this series will be STS-120 with Assembly 10A after which the station will look like: [with node 2 in highlight]
This final completion of the U.S. core ISS assembly is to include
Node 2 [of 3] to which the
Japanese,
Europeans and
others are to attach further power hungry modules - including a major
centrifuge unit.
Some of the even more distant flights have even further truss/solar array elements to attach.
Then there's always the third node and whatever's to attach to it.
Is there a final 'urban plan' or will the ISS continue to evolve like a hampster's cage, into a neighborhood of attached modules and airlocks criss-crossing like some M.C.Eischer[
Relativity] drawing?
Not having studied the ISS in any detail to this point I was surprised to find that as of the next flight, STS-121 with Assembly ULF1.1, the station will look like:
[img]http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/assembly/flights/images/021_ULF1.jpg[/img]
Six further flights will vastly increase the power generation capabilities of the station.
The last of this series will be STS-120 with Assembly 10A after which the station will look like: [with node 2 in highlight]
[img]http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/assembly/flights/images/027_10a.jpg[/img]
This final completion of the U.S. core ISS assembly is to include [url=http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/assembly/elements/node2/index.html][color=blue][u]Node 2[/u][/color][/url] [of 3] to which the [url=http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/assembly/elements/jem/index.html][color=blue][u]Japanese[/u][/color][/url], [url=http://www.esa.int/esaHS/ESAAYI0VMOC_iss_0.html][color=blue][u]Europeans[/u][/color][/url] and [url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/mplm.html][color=blue][u]others[/u][/color][/url] are to attach further power hungry modules - including a major [url=http://iss.sfo.jaxa.jp/iss/contribution/issjpdoc3_2_e.html][color=blue][u]centrifuge unit[/u][/color][/url].
Some of the even more distant flights have even further truss/solar array elements to attach.
Then there's always the third node and whatever's to attach to it.
Is there a final 'urban plan' or will the ISS continue to evolve like a hampster's cage, into a neighborhood of attached modules and airlocks criss-crossing like some M.C.Eischer[[i]Relativity[/i]] drawing?
[img]http://www.artfinale.com/store/img/E06BT-en.jpg[/img]