Russian specialists have already a short two-orbit scheme for rendezvous of ships with the International Space Station (ISS). As reported now, RSC Energia has developed an even faster single-turn flight scheme.
When using the two-orbit rendezvous program, the ships get to the ISS in about three and a half hours. The single-turn circuit assumes the reduction of this time to two hours.
The implementation of a single-turn scheme will require compliance with a number of strict ballistic conditions for the relative position of the ship and station. However, the technique developed by Energia specialists will allow using it even more often than the already familiar four-turn approach strategy.
In practice, it is possible to implement a one-orbit program for rendezvous of spacecraft with the ISS in 2β3 years. βThe main advantage of such a scheme is the reduction in the time spent by astronauts in a small spaceship. Another advantage of the single-turn scheme is the rapid delivery of various biomaterials to the station for conducting scientific experiments on the ISS. In addition, the faster the spacecraft approaches the station, the more fuel and other resources necessary to ensure the flight are saved,β says RSC Energia.
It should be added that the single-turn scheme in the future can be used when launching ships from the Vostochny cosmodrome. Moreover, it will be possible to perform such launches even without preliminary corrections of the ISS orbit.
Source: 3dnews.ru