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International Space Station
In 1998, the Russian Zarya module was placed into Earth orbit and became the first element of the International Space Station (ISS). Assembly of the station was completed 13 years later, in 2011. Today, the ISS has a habitable volume of approximately 400 m3 and has been permanently crewed since November 2000. The station’s main purpose is to perform microgravity science experiments. Two examples are Cardiomed, a medical experiment developed by CNES in cooperation with the IMBP (Russia) to gauge the effects of near-weightlessness on the cardiovascular system. it was operated from 2010 to 2020 and its continuation is in preparation, and the DECLIC mini-laboratory also developed by CNES in cooperation with NASA and launched to the ISS in 2009 to observe the behaviour of fluids in certain very precise conditions. As the ISS orbits Earth at an altitude of about 400 km, such experiments allow scientists to detect physical and physiological phenomena otherwise masked by gravity on the ground. In addition to its role performing experiments, the ISS also serves as a platform to observe Earth from space and as a proving ground for future human space exploration.
Launched and led by NASA, the ISS mission was developed and is being pursued in partnership with ESA, the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos, the Japan Aerospace eXploration Agency (JAXA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The ISS will continue operating until at least 2030.
Mission's news feed
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Swarm yields new insight into animal migration
Using measurements from ESA’s Earth Explorer Swarm mission, scientists have developed a new tool that links the strength and direction of the magnetic field to the flight paths of...
July 9, 2021
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The curious incident of Swarm and sprites in the night-time
The likelihood of this happening might seem pretty remote, but, remarkably, an observer for the Czech Institute of Atmospheric Physics who is also an avid ‘lightning hunter’ has...
May 18, 2021
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Antarctica’s magnetic link to ancient neighbours
For the first time, an international team of scientists has used magnetic data from ESA’s Swarm satellite mission together with aeromagnetic data to help reveal the mysteries of...
March 9, 2021