Importance Score: 75 / 100 🔴
WASHINGTON — As NASA and its global collaborators on the International Space Station transition towards commercially operated orbital outposts, a former high-ranking NASA official suggests that international cooperation will remain crucial for these ventures. Pam Melroy, previously NASA’s deputy administrator and a former astronaut, highlighted the significance of partnership coordination for future commercial space stations, drawing from the ISS experience. Her remarks were delivered at a Royal Aeronautical Society symposium centered on international space partnerships held on April 16.
Continued Need for International Coordination
Melroy stated that the transition to commercial platforms is being closely monitored, emphasizing the foundational role of trust and established relationships. “We’re all still watching and thinking,” she remarked regarding operational frameworks for commercial stations. “It’s really about trust, and it’s about the relationships. The great thing is that we have these deep relationships with our partners and we’re beginning to grow them with other, new partners.”
Lessons from the ISS: Multilateral Boards
Drawing from the operational history of the ISS, Melroy emphasized the value of high-level multilateral boards. She cited the example of a medical board, composed of international doctors, responsible for granting medical clearances for ISS crews. These boards, she noted, also play a vital role in pivotal decisions concerning the station’s infrastructure and operational protocols. “The experience of the ISS, she said, showed the value of ‘certain very-high-level boards’ in ISS operations, such as one multilateral board, primarily of doctors, who provide medical approval for crews going to the station. Other multilateral boards make key decisions on station architecture, she added.”
Melroy concluded that a similar framework of international, high-level coordination will likely be essential for the successful operation of commercial space stations. “I do think that something like that is going to be needed, ultimately,” she concluded.
Harmonizing Space Law for Commercial Ventures
Another critical point raised by Melroy was the necessity for harmonization of space law among the diverse international stakeholders involved in upcoming commercial space stations. These new stations will operate outside the existing intergovernmental agreements that govern activities on the ISS, presenting new legal challenges.
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“There’s some work to be done. There’s going to have to be harmonization of space law because now you’ve got a commercial entity,” she explained. She highlighted the complexities arising from international commercial space travel: “What does it mean to have one country fly commercially to another country’s space station? We’re going to have to figure out how to get through that.”
Addressing Access and Collaboration Post-ISS
Both companies developing commercial space stations and current ISS partner nations, including Canada, Europe, and Japan, are actively exploring optimal collaborative strategies for the post-ISS era. Some nations have voiced reservations regarding the prospect of paying U.S. companies for station access, expressing a preference for domestic investment, a model facilitated by the ISS partnership’s service exchange framework.
In response, some commercial space station developers are proactively seeking agreements with international partners, offering them increased participation in station projects. Starlab Space, as an example, is collaborating with major international aerospace entities such as Europe’s Airbus Defence and Space, Japan’s Mitsubishi, and Canada’s MDA Space in the development of its proposed space station. “Some companies, in response, have been working to establish agreements with companies and governments to give them greater roles in their stations. Starlab Space, for example, is working with Europe’s Airbus Defence and Space, Japan’s Mitsubishi and Canada’s MDA Space on its proposed space station.”
Streamlining Payload Access and Data Sharing
Further lessons from the ISS program include improving payload access procedures. Melroy pointed out the currently complex system for sending experiments to the ISS. “Because the systems grew up organically, there six or seven or eight different ways to get an experiment to the space station,” she noted, which can be confusing for researchers and organizations aiming to utilize the station. “The next step is to try and shrink that down a little bit.”
She proposed the creation of a unified “microgravity institute” to streamline payload coordination from U.S. government agencies and potentially international partners. Such an institute could also manage the pooling of medical data collected from astronauts on commercial stations, similar to current ISS protocols, while ensuring the privacy of medical information. “That could be done, she suggested, through a single ‘microgravity institute’ organization, which would coordinate payloads from U.S. government agencies and perhaps international partners. That institute could also pool medical data from people flying to the station, as is done on the ISS today, while preserving medical privacy.”
Optimism for Continued International Partnerships
Melroy conveyed confidence in the development of effective solutions to these challenges during the ongoing transition from the ISS to commercial low Earth orbit destinations. She affirmed the strong desire among international partners to maintain their collaborative relationships in this new era of space exploration. “The signals are very clear that the partners want to stay together in low Earth orbit.”