by Rescuers on Earth can encounter many harsh environments: stranded boaters in the ocean, injured people while skiing in the mountains, and victims of plane crashes in rural areas.
But there is currently no emergency rescue system space — and maybe there is a way to change that. The non-profit Rand Corp suggests that a Space Rescue Service, if funded and given a strong enough mandate, could be deployed to help astronauts or tourists stranded in low earth orbit – or even on the moon.
The idea was suggested in November 2023 report, “Select Space Concepts for the New Space Age.” To be sure, there are many questions that need to be answered before a Space Rescue Service can be up and running: how does this fit into existing UN treaties on space exploration, who would be responsible, who would fund it and what technologies. may be required, for example.
But if these challenges were addressed, author Jan Osburg told Space.com, the service would fill a much-needed “gap” in space exploration. (He borrowed the word “gap” from a 2021 report about the space rescue issue at the Aerospace Corp.which influenced Rand’s work.)
“It seems self-evident,” Osburg said. “The more people that fly in space, the higher the probability that something will go wrong.”
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As of August 2023, less than 700 people they have achieved space, although the definition of space varies depending on who you talk to. Most of these people were professional astronauts. However, a select few were tourists who paid for their seats, or commercial astronauts who had special mission training, as we have seen. Space Axiom missions to the International Space Station or Inspiration-4which both of them used SpaceX Team Dragon vehicles to reach orbit.
Of that small group of people who have flown from space, 21 have died during their missions, according to Nigel Packham, NASA’s associate director for safety and mission assurance, in a recent interview with Space.com. a sister publication of LiveScience. (The number may vary depending on how space is defined, however). Apollo 13and explosion on the way to the moonor Twin 8 spinning out of control above the Earth.
Sometimes emergencies happen within seconds or minutes, Osburg acknowledged, but he said there was at least one situation where a theoretical Space Rescue Service could be useful for an extended issue. Engineers doubted the integrity of the heat shield tiles on NASA space shuttle Columbia for days before its fatal return to Earth on 1 February 2003, as footage showed foam from part of the outer tank attachment appearing to slam into a tile near a wing. the orbiter during his ascension two weeks earlier. But for numerous reasons outlined in the long Columbia Accident Investigation Reportthe astronauts came back again The Earth’s Atmosphereand all seven of them they lost their lives.
NASA implemented many lessons learned from Columbia, of course, including having backup shuttles available at the launch pad for the rest of the program in case of issues. Osburg added that SpaceX’s pace has been recent Falcon 9 rocket launches — launched by humans or satellites into space — suggests a new era in which multiple types of rockets could be on standby to help people in trouble, if there is time to rescue them.
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Osburg also mentioned the International Space Station as a site with many backups in case of trouble on board. “NASA has very solid plans,” he said, given that Russian Soyuz and SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft now regularly visit the orbital complex, and Boeing spacecraft also serve the orbit. Star line may be doing the same in the near future.
And the backup idea has already been implemented, at least through the planning phase: When Soyuz spacecraft docked at the ISS suffered a coolant leak at the end of last year, doubting its ability to safely transport its three crew members back to Earth, NASA quickly created a backup scenario. The agency recommended allow the fifth member of staff to squeeze into Dragon also docked at the ISS, using a modified seat attached to the floor. (Thankfully, that idea never had to be implemented, as a new Soyuz was launched to the ISS within weeks.)
Further into the future, Osburg pointed to SpaceX’s expansion Starship deep space transportation system as one main vehicle that the public is waiting for. (SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk expect Starship to be able to launch several times a week, or even several times a day.) For low Earth orbit, companies like Galactic Virgo and Sierra Space is working on their next-generation vehicles that can fly astronauts several times a week, when they’re ready.
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While Osburg says any Space Rescue Service could be a decade or more away, the key is to start planning now — and Rand, he emphasized, doesn’t want to assume responsibility or to say that he would have all the answers on how to implement such a thing. think.
But there are ideas that the public may be able to borrow from. For example, the International Submarine Escape and Rescue Office Its aim is to rescue submarines regardless of where they are stranded or what their nationality is. In space circles, NASA may have another helpful example Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO). That office was put into operation shortly after a small asteroid unexpectedly exploded ChelyabinskRussia on February 15, 2013, to better coordinate a rapid response to such impacts.
The PDCO aims to connect several government organizations, as well as international partners, to deal with situations where asteroids threatening the Earth soon. The partners currently hold regular tabletop exercises, to simulate what could be done if an impact were ever to occur. Happily, such cases remain hypothetical at the moment, as astronomers have yet to find any dangerous asteroids on a collision course with Earth despite years of searching.
Osburg, who studies planetary protection issues as well, said a good defense strategy in that case also involves long-range planning: examples among the space-based infrared sensors that look for incoming asteroids, or a network of fast response launch vehicles that can leave the Earth at short notice .
“But there are challenges in striking a balance between open global cooperation or borderless global cooperation,” he acknowledged, given security and trade issues. On the other hand, he said, “we are all in the same boat, and we have to save the planet in the optimistic, very low-probability case that something big is headed our way.”
The first few steps toward a Space Rescue Service, Osburg said, could begin at regular space conferences where researchers and engineers meet. “It starts with identifying organizations that are involved, on the government side but also on the industry side,” he said. Conversations must then be made about costs, and about ways to make rescue easier; one is to continue standardizing items such as docking ports to allow spacecraft to meet each other in space when needed, for example.
Some of the legal infrastructure could also be expanded, although Osburg stressed that is not his area of expertise. Already, the United Nations has a framework for international cooperation by 1967 Outer Space Treatywhich forms the basis of most international space law, including a “Salvation Agreement” for signatories astronauts stuck back of their original nation here on Earth.
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NASA also has its own international agreements for allies. The IS Agreements of Artemis to cover peaceful norms in space exploration and, for some selected signatories, agreements on cooperation on lunar missions. The ISS agreement covers matters such as legal responsibilities on the space station, related to the signatories of that agreement; private operators such as Axiom Space follow strict rules for allowing commercial astronauts on board.
Osburg added that regardless of how future agreements are implemented, all actors in space must have informed consent to the risks – including space tourists. “You can’t plan for every eventuality, or provide resources.”
