A United Nations Module on ISS: A Study

Abstract

In November 1998, the space community saw the beginning of a new era, the era of the International Space Station. It is an effort that materializes the effort of many nations to cooperate and to establish a permanent manned presence in space. But is this effort truly international, or rather multi-national? Are there any opportunities for truly international cooperation for the ISS? This paper tries to answer these questions by describing a new concept on how to bring vision, international cooperation and reality within the ISS framework.

This idea involves using existing technologies/hardware on Mir to build an international environment on ISS under the umbrella of the United Nations. This will enable countries which are members of the UN, but which do not have direct, autonomous access to space (i.e. not major space powers) to utilize a proposed UN module for scientific research, space-related projects or experiments. In this paper, the relevant technical and political issues are addressed, resulting in a proposal involving more partners/participants on ISS.