Weighing the weightless: Russia to measure space station

MOSCOW (AFP) - How do you calculate the weight of a gigantic man-made object floating around in the supposed "weightlessness" of space?

With a big rocket and a little brainpower, Russian scientists said Saturday, as they announced plans to use their Progress space resupply ship to measure the mass of the orbiting International Space Station (news - web sites) (ISS).

"We do not know the mass of the ISS precisely enough," Vladimir Solovyov, chief of the Russian mission control team supervising the current Progress mission to the ISS said.

"The station is refueled from time to time, something new is brought aboard and something is taken away," he was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.

The Progress vessel, which docked with the ISS Saturday to deliver fresh supplies to its two-man crew, will be used to weigh the problem-plagued station, resulting in more efficient and economical use of it, he said.

In physics, thrust is equal to mass multiplied by acceleration. Since Russian scientists know the precise weight of Progress and can gauge both the thrust of its engines and the acceleration of the ISS, they can determine its mass, he added.

The resulting measurement of the orbiting station will be accurate within a tolerance of two percent, Solovyov explained.

A Progress supply vehicle approaches the International Space Station (news - web sites) (ISS). The supply vessel docked with the ISS -- bringing fresh food, water, fuel and family letters to the two crew members.(AFP/NASA (news - web sites)/File)

This view of Hurricane Charley was photographed by the crew of the International Space Station (news - web sites) early Friday, Aug. 13, 2004, at a vantage point just north of Tampa, Fla., looking south. A stronger-than-expected Hurricane Charley roared ashore Friday as a dangerous Category 4 storm, pounding the heavily populated Gulf Coast with 145 mph wind and towering surges of water expected to swallow up miles of shoreline. Charley's eye reached land at 3:45 p.m. EDT when it passed over the barrier islands between Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, some 70 miles southeast of the Tampa Bay area. It struck the mainland 30 minutes later. (AP Photo/ NASA (news - web sites))

The International Space Station (news - web sites) is seen from the US space shuttle Endeavour. The Russian space agency warned Washington that it must start covering the cost of sending US astronauts to the International Space Station on Russina Soyuz spaceships.(AFP-NASA (news - web sites)/File)

Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka (top-L) and U.S. astronaut Michael Fincke (top-R), install equipment necessary for the new European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to dock, August 3, 2004. The two astronauts began a spacewalk on Tuesday that aims to pave the way for the European Space Agency to send its first cargo craft to the International Space Station (news - web sites) (ISS), Russian mission control said.

Gennady Padalka, Expedition 9 Commander (L) and NASA (news - web sites) ISS science officer Michael Fincke (R) are pictured inside the International Space Station (news - web sites)'s PIRS airlock with their Russian Orlon spacesuits before their four and one half hour spacewalk

US must start paying for astronauts' flights: Russian official

MOSCOW (AFP) - A top Russian space official reportedly warned that from next year Moscow would expect the United States to cover the cost of sending US astronauts to the International Space Station (news - web sites) (ISS).

The assertion by the director of Russia's Federal Cosmic Agency, Anatoly Perminov, signified the increased strain between Washington and Moscow over the United States' reliance on Russian Soyuz spaceships to get its astronauts to the ISS.

"This is our position: if in 2005 the Americans want to fly aboard Soyuzes, let them pay the cost of these flights," Perminov told the ITAR-TASS news agency.

The United States has had no means of its own to transport people into space since it froze its space shuttle programme following the Columbia accident in February 2003.

While Russia and the United States have agreed to split the cost of getting people and materials to the ISS, the burden has in reality fallen on Moscow, Russian officials say.

A principal reason is that the United States' Iran Nonproliferation Act prohibits US funding for the Russian space program because of Moscow's nuclear and other military cooperation with Tehran.

On Wednesday Perminov said it was time for Russia to concentrate on developing its own section of the ISS.

"Starting in 2005 the priority will become developing the Russian segment and ensuring the activity of the Russian crew," Perminov said.

His comments came as Russian and US scientists investigated a brief loss of radio contact with the ISS' current crew, American Michael Finke and Russian Gennady Padalk, and a deviation in the station's orbit when the two stepped outside the station on a maintenance mission on Wednesday.

During the mission equipment was installed that will enable a European cargo vessel to dock alongside next year.

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