Rassvet (ISS module)

Rassvet

Rassvet as seen from the Cupola module during STS-132 with a Progress in the lower right
Module statistics
COSPAR ID	2010-079A
Launch date	14 May 2010, 18:20:09 UTC
Launch vehicle	Space Shuttle Atlantis
Docked	18 May 2010
Mass	Empty: 5,075 kg Launch: 8,015 kg
Length	6 m
Diameter	2.35 m
Pressurised volume	Total: 17.4 m3 Pressurised: 5.85m3[1]

Rassvet (Russian: Рассвет; lit. "first light"), also known as the Mini-Research Module 1 (MRM-1; Russian: Малый исследовательский модуль, МИМ 1) and formerly known as the Docking Cargo Module (DCM), is a component of the International Space Station (ISS). The module's design is similar to the Mir Docking Module launched on STS-74 in 1995. Rassvet is primarily used for cargo storage and as a docking port for visiting spacecraft. It was flown to the ISS aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on the STS-132 mission on 14 May 2010,^[2] and was connected to the ISS on 18 May 2010.^[3] The hatch connecting Rassvet with the ISS was first opened on 20 May 2010.^[4] On 28 June 2010, the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft performed the first docking with the module.^[5]

Details[]

Rassvet in the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at Kennedy Space Center

An interior view of Rassvet

Rassvet was docked to the nadir port of Zarya with help from the Canadarm2.^[6] Rassvet carried externally attached outfitting equipment from NASA for the Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM), a spare elbow joint for the European Robotic Arm (ERA) and a ERA portable workpost used during EVAs, Nauka's experiment airlock for launching cubesats, and a radiator. Delivering Rassvet thus enabled NASA to fulfill its promise to ship 1.4 metric tons to equip the MLM.^[7]

Rassvet has two docking units: one to attach to the nadir port of the Zarya module, and one to provide a docking port for a Soyuz or Progress spacecraft. It implements the role of the Docking and Storage Module from the original ISS design. Russia announced the cancellation of the last of the two planned Russian Research Modules when it announced the plans for Rassvet.

Initial planning[]

The initial ISS plan included a Docking and Storage Module (DSM). This planned Russian element was intended to provide facilities for stowage and an additional docking port, and would have been launched to the station on a Proton launch vehicle. The DSM would have been mounted to Zarya's nadir (Earth-facing) docking port. It would have been similar in size and shape to the Zarya module.

The DSM was cancelled due to Russian budgetary constraints for some time, but its design was eventually modified into the Docking and Cargo Module (Rassvet) that was to be connected to the same Zarya location to provide storage space and a docking port. During the cancellation period, it was proposed that a Multi Purpose Module (MPM) called Enterprise should be docked to Zarya, and later the Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM) was proposed to be located there as well, but the Enterprise module has since been cancelled and the Nauka MLM was docked to Zvezda's nadir port instead.

Purpose[]

Rassvet was designed as a solution to two problems facing the ISS partners:

• NASA was under contract to carry the MLM outfitting equipment into space.^{[citation needed]}
• The overlapping missions of the Progress, Soyuz, and ATV spacecraft highlighted the need to have four Russian docking ports available on the ISS. The cancellation of both Russian Research Modules meant that the ISS would be left with just three such docking ports after the installation of the Permanent Multipurpose Module in 2011, which made the nadir port of Zarya unusable.^{[citation needed]}

Rassvet solved both of these issues. NASA did not need to add another payload flight to accommodate the MLM outfitting equipment, as it could attach the hardware to the exterior of MRM-1. The ISS now had four docking ports available on the Russian segment: the aft port of Zvezda, the port of Pirs, later MLM (on the nadir port of Zvezda), the port of MRM-2 (on the zenith port of Zvezda), and the port on MRM-1 (on the nadir port of Zarya). Russia's cancellation of the Research Module thus came to be of less consequence for the ISS program as a whole.

Design and construction[]

The Experiment Airlock on the Rassvet module.

The Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft docks to the Rassvet Mini-Research Module 1.

The Russian Orbital Segment as seen from the departing STS-135 in July 2011 with (clockwise from left) a Russian Progress unmanned vehicle, two Soyuz manned spacecraft, and an additional Progress vehicle currently docked. Viewing from starboard, facing to port, with zenith upwards, Rassvet can be seen attached to the nadir of Zarya.

The module was designed and built by S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, from the already-made pressurized hull of the mock-up for dynamic tests of the cancelled Science Power Platform.^[8][9]

On 17 December 2009, an Antonov An-124 carrying the Rassvet Module and ground process equipment arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.^[10] Upon unloading, the equipment was delivered to a prelaunch processing facility run by the Astrotech. Energia specialists and technicians continued their work on the processing of the Rassvet module at the facility, completing stand-alone electrical tests and leak tests of the module and the airlock. They also prepared the airlock and the radiative heat exchanger for installation onto Rassvet. The module was moved to NASA's Space Station Processing Facility on 2 April 2010. After completing the final touches, it was placed into the shuttle payload transporter on 5 April 2010. The payload canister containing the Rassvet Module arrived at LC-39A on 15 April 2010.^[11]

Engineers at Launch Pad 39A preparing Space Shuttle Atlantis had noticed paint peeling from the MRM-1 module. Although the problem was declared to have no impact on the operation of Rassvet, it posed a potential threat of releasing debris on orbit.^[12]

Visited spacecraft[]

Rassvet was connected to nadir port of Zarya on 18 May 2010.^[3]

Patch	Spacecraft	Docking	Undocking
	Soyuz TMA-19	28 June 2010 03:38 UTC	26 November 2010 01:23 UTC
	Soyuz TMA-20	17 December 2010 20:12 UTC	23 May 2011 21:35 UTC
	Soyuz TMA-02M	9 June 2011 21:18 UTC	21 November 2011 23:00 UTC
	Soyuz TMA-03M	23 December 2011 15:19 UTC	1 July 2012 04:48 UTC
	Soyuz TMA-05M	17 July 2012 04:51 UTC	18 November 2012 22:26 UTC
	Soyuz TMA-07M	21 December 2012 14:09 UTC	13 May 2013 23:08 UTC
	Soyuz TMA-09M	29 May 2013 02:10 UTC	10 November 2013 23:26 UTC
	Soyuz TMA-11M	7 November 2013 10:27 UTC	13 May 2014 22:36 UTC
	Soyuz TMA-13M	29 May 2014 19:57 UTC	10 November 2014 00:31 UTC
	Soyuz TMA-15M	23 November 2014 01:01 UTC	11 June 2015 10:20 UTC
	Soyuz TMA-17M	23 July 2015 02:45 UTC	11 December 2015 09:49 UTC
	Soyuz TMA-19M	15 December 2015 17:33 UTC	18 June 2016 05:52 UTC
	Soyuz MS-01	9 July 2016 04:12 UTC[13]	30 October 2016 03:58 UTC[14]
	Soyuz MS-03	19 November 2016 21:58 UTC	2 June 2017 10:47 UTC
	Soyuz MS-05	28 July 2017 21:54 UTC[15]	14 December 2017 05:14 UTC[15]
	Soyuz MS-07	19 December 2017 08:39 UTC	3 June 2018 09:16 UTC
	Soyuz MS-09	8 June 2018 13:01 UTC	20 December 2018 01:42 UTC
	Soyuz MS-12	15 March 2019 01:01 UTC	03 October 2019 07:37 UTC
	Soyuz MS-17	14 October 2020 08:48 UTC	16 April 2021 01:34 UTC
	Soyuz MS-18	9 April 2021 07:42:41	13 October 2021 11:21 UTC

Gallery[]

• 

  MRM-1 at the Astrotech Facility

• 

  Rassvet module development

• 

  RAssvet Module

See also[]

• Poisk (ISS module)
• Pirs (ISS module)

References[]

External links[]

• http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/dsm.htm
• http://www.russianspaceweb.com/iss_enterprise.html
• Rassvet at Astrotech looking NW
• Rassvet at Astrotech looking north
• Rassvet at Astrotech from above
• Rassvet at Astrotech looking SE