Challenges and perspectives of transport cargo vehicles utilization for performing research in free flight.

Abstract: Russian Progress transport cargo vehicles have successfully been used in different space station programs since 1978. At present time, they play an important role in the International Space Station (ISS) project. Main tasks performed by the transport cargo vehicle (TCV) in the station program are the following: refueling of the station, delivery of consumables and equipment, waste removal, station attitude control and orbit correction maneuver execution. At the same time, the cargo vehicle basic systems still retain unused resources after the vehicle finishes its work with the station. It makes sense to use these resources to perform research in free flight of TCV after departure from the ISS when possible. The fields of research can be determined not only on the basis of the vehicle capabilities as a research platform but also taking into account needs of the research community. Possible fields could be the following: [–] In-flight tests, validation and certification of various equipment, materials, systems in the interests of other spacecraft, [–] Execution of experiments on the Earth or other objects remote sensing using additional equipment, [–] Microgravity research aboard TCV, [–] Launch of small satellites and probes after TCV undocking from the station and transfer to the specified orbit, etc. Solution of research tasks using the Progress TCV resources helps to increase efficiency of the ISS research program performance. The paper considers the TCV flight control features and the methods of the solution of the problems arising when various experiments are performed aboard the vehicle. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]