Hello everyone and welcome to ZD Tech, ZDNet’s daily editorial podcast. My name is Guillaume Serriesand today I explain to you why autonomous spacecraft land on board the ISS, the international space station.
Big news last week, where we learned via a host of articles that Uber Eats was switching to autonomous delivery in the good city of Los Angeles. And small news, in any case in terms of number of articles, the international space station was supplied for the first time by an autonomous module.
Yes, an autonomous spacecraft that supplies the ISS with 400 kilos of cargo. Its sweet name is Starliner, and its designer is simply the aeronautics giant Boeing.
No question of letting Starliner crash on its own
Last Friday evening, therefore, the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, devoid of any crew, docked almost alone with the international space station. The Starliner craft had left Earth hours earlier, powered by an Atlas V rocket fired from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
But there is no question of letting Starliner crash on its own, especially in this mission which remains a test. Starliner therefore first performed a series of system demonstrations to verify that the spacecraft was “sound” and could maneuver safely.
Then ground controllers in Houston, Texas, used the Starliner’s autonomous systems to guide the spacecraft into orbit. And in the space station, the astronauts scrupulously watched the module, ready to take control of it in case of trouble.
Starliner docked itself
But it turns out that everything went well. To put it plainly, Starliner docked itself. The docking system used by Starliner is the same as that of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule. It allows the transfer of energy, data, commands, air, communications and potentially water, oxygen and pressurizing gases.
The success of this maneuver was not written.
Starliner’s automated flight to ISS is the culmination of eight years of work. This is the Starliner’s second unmanned flight. The first flight was made in 2019, but the spacecraft had to return to Earth before docking with the space station due to software issues.
This flight test mainly collected data to certify the spacecraft for crewed missions. Because yes, Starliner can carry up to four crew members. Clearly, passengers will not have to pilot the module.
Otherwise, Starliner is scheduled to return to Earth this week. All alone like a grown-up.