I really did not expect that in today's changeable world, even the International Space Station in space can not stay out of the matter, and now, the risk of the International Space Station being "split" is gradually increasing, if Russia and the United States really make a "split" point, it can be said that it is "a big loss", which is not conducive to the development of human spaceflight.
In February this year, the Russian space agency warned the United States that cooperation on the International Space Station is likely to end here, and on March 6, the Russian space agency media released a 58-second virtual footage on the Internet, which caused a heated discussion, some people were in favor of the Russian Space Agency to do this, and some people opposed the Russian Space Agency to do this.
In the virtual shot, first the Russian astronauts returned to the Russian cabin, fixed the good things, and prepared for the "split", and then the Russian and American astronauts bid farewell with tears, hugged each other, said goodbye to the Americans, and then closed the hatch, the space station began to "split", and finally the American cabin fell into the atmosphere and burned wildly.
If the International Space Station is really divided, will the US cabin burn in the atmosphere as in the virtual lens? Where will the Russian cabin go from here? It has long been rumored that Russia has sincerely joined the Chinese space station plan, so will the split Russian module directly dock with the Chinese space station?
I wonder how NASA officials felt when they saw this virtual footage, and whether they would be scared out of a cold sweat? To know that the International Space Station is mainly propelled by the Russian module, the Russian module has left, and the remaining American module is not a "waste" without a propulsion system?
The International Space Station has a total of 16 modules and modules, the United States 7 segments and 1 module, Russia 5 modules and 1 module, Japan 1 module, the European Space Agency 1 module, weighing 419 tons, is currently the largest human spacecraft, but certainly not the largest spacecraft in the future.
Russia has the Zarya, Zvezda, Science, Nauka, Dawn, and search for small research modules (Poisk), and of course, the Russian module often docks one or two Soyuz spacecraft.
Affected by atmospheric resistance, the height of the International Space Station naturally drops by about 2 kilometers every month, if geomagnetic storms often erupt, then the falling altitude may be doubled in a month, so every once in a while it is necessary to artificially increase the operating altitude of the International Space Station, otherwise there is only one situation - falling to the earth.
The Division of Labor between the United States and Russia is very clear, the United States module provides strong power support, creating a truss up to 109 meters long, the length of the solar array is 73 meters, and the Russian module provides power support to ensure the flight altitude and attitude of the International Space Station, the Zvezda service module, the Science experimental module and the Progress cargo spacecraft are equipped with a powerful propulsion system, and Russia consumes more than 8 tons of propellant per year.
If the International Space Station is "split", the US module is equivalent to no propulsion system, can not avoid dangerous space debris, can not ensure the orbital altitude and attitude, although the United States has a dragon spacecraft, the dragon spacecraft is equipped with a propulsion system, but the dragon spacecraft is not enough fuel to plug the teeth, the United States will crash sooner or later.
In fact, the Russian module technology is based on the technology of the former Soviet Union's Mir space station, so the Russian module itself has the ability to operate independently.
According to the real photos of the International Space Station, it can be seen that the Russian module has a number of solar panels, including the Zarya functional cargo module of the Aurora, the Zvezda service module and the experimental module of the Science, but it is not as large as the solar panel on the truss and can meet the basic power demand.
Someone has a clever move and put forward an interesting topic, after the international space station is split, the Russian module runs alone, it is better to dock with the Chinese space station, then, can the Russian module dock with the Chinese space station? If there is indeed a need for docking, it is certainly possible to dock.
There are two difficulties in the docking of the Russian module with the Chinese space station, one is the problem of whether the interface matches, and the other is whether the power interface matches.
The Russian module adopts the APAS-95 standard interface, and although the interface of the Chinese space station refers to the Russian APAS-95 standard, it looks very similar, but in fact there are some differences, which cannot be directly docked, but this problem is not impossible to solve, and it is possible to add a docking adapter that converts the interface.
At that time, when the U.S. cabin section was docked with the cabin section, there was also the problem of not being able to directly dock, and the United States built an IDA international docking adapter to convert the APAS-95 interface into the U.S. docking system (NDS), and now, we can also do this to create a module dedicated to interface conversion.
However, the Russian module and the Chinese space station docking significance is not large, first, the Chinese space station is a new space station, the inside is clean and tidy, electronic equipment and scientific instruments are brand new, the use of the latest science and technology, and the Russian module has more than 20 years, the cabin is in tatters, the equipment is aging, many scientific instruments can no longer be used.
The International Space Station is really "split", Russia can only see the United States again, in any case, the biggest loss is the United States, the United States module will eventually fall, Russian space will also put energy into the construction of the Chinese space station, and the United States failed to join the Chinese space station, can only look at it with eyes, have you imagined this scene? Interesting and informative scientific content, please pay attention to the only WeChat public account: Interesting Exploration