CANADIAN UTILIZATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

摘要

In April 2001, the Space Station Remote Manipulator System, Canadarm2, was installed on the International Space Station (ISS) and was used to support the next assembly mission. With the Canadarm2 declared operational, Canada achieved its right (as defined in the ISS IGA/MOUs) to "use" the ISS research facilities in accordance with the mandate given to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA): to use space to advance knowledge and technology to provide benefits to Canadians and humanity. Life Sciences and Physical Sciences are the two space sciences that most benefit from the facilities in long duration in a space environment provided by the ISS. CSA's areas of interest and goals in these two sciences and how the ISS will be used to fulfill our mandate will be described. In keeping with the international nature of the ISS, past experiments have benefited from collaboration with Canada's ISS partners. One of the first medical experiments completed on the ISS was H-reflex, led my Canadian researcher Dr. Douglas Watt in cooperation with NASA. Another CSA-NASA collaboration, the Extra-vehicular Activity Radiation Monitor (EVARM) was also performed. In keeping with the collaborative activities that Canada favours, the next Canadian experiment planned for ISS, the Perceptual Motor Deficits in Space (PMDIS) experiment, is paired with the German experiment, Test of Reaction and Adaptation Capabilities (TRAC). As the limitations of performing science on ISS become more evident and the need to use the space environment to supplement terrestrial science becomes stronger, creative ways to maximize ISS utilization are essential. Some of the current constraints will be discussed using our experience with PMDIS-TRAC as an example and some of the future experiments that have been selected for flight. Finally, to fully exploit the ISS, Canada is taking measures that include renewed commitment to international cooperation to maximize the benefit to humanity from this unique facility given current challenges.