What is the world biggest space station?
The International Space Station, ISS, is the largest joint human project in world history, a collaboration between 15 countries and five space organizations. The first step to the ISS was taken in 1998 when Russia sent a rocket into space. In the year 2000, the first people arrived at the station, and in the year 2011 the station was completed.
First of all, the ISS functions as a research unit, where you can carry out experiments that cannot be done in the same way elsewhere, because everything on board takes place in a weightless state. The hope is that over time, the research projects on the ISS can provide answers to the major questions of space research: How did our earth and our solar system evolve? Where are we in the universe? Where are we going? Where did life come from and are we alone?
What is the ISS?
ISS, short for International Space Station, is a habitable satellite that acts as a research station and is located in a low orbit around the Earth. In science fiction literature and films, it has often been imagined that space stations (eg in the film Space Journey in 2001 from 1968) were round as wheels that were supposed to be able to create a form of artificial gravity. But the ISS is square, and it constitutes the largest man-made structure in space to date.
The space station has a pressure-regulated area of over 800 cubic meters, which is enough for six astronauts and an enormous amount of equipment. It serves primarily as a research station, which it is perfect for, as all experiments take place in a weightless state. This pushes to the known, ground-based boundaries of research and should help to provide answers to some of the great questions of space research.
Where is the space station located?
The International Space Station is in a low orbit around the Earth. While e.g. communications satellites move around the Earth at up to thousands of kilometers distance, the ISS is just between 330 and 435 km from the Earth in a low orbit called LEO (Low Earth Orbit). In this orbit, the space station moves at a speed of approx. 28,000 km per hour, giving it a cycle time of about 90 minutes, equivalent to about 16 circuits a day. The space station is so large that it can be seen with the naked eye from the Earth's surface. Its exact position can be seen on NASA's website, among others.
How big is the ISS?
According to the US space agency NASA's website (see sources), the following facts apply to the space station:
- Length: 72.8 m
- Width: 108.5 m (roughly like a football pitch)
- Speed: 7.66 kilometers per second, approx. 28,000 km per hour
- Pressure regulated area: 916 cubic meters
- Living space: 800 cubic meters (much like the interior of a large passenger plane)
- Weight: 419 tons (will increase to about 450 tons)
- Altitude: between 330 and 435 km
- Area of solar panels: 8 panels of 73 meters deliver 84 kilowatts
- Age: ISS has been permanently manned for over 14 years
- Life expectancy: 20-30 years depending on material and financing