Re: Politics on the ISS

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20071204/sc_space/europelaysdownthelawfornewspacelab


The solution is quite simple:

Convert one of the MPLMs into a law court and leave it permanently attached to the station. Then crew the station with 3 lawyers, 2 judges and one scientist. The project could become self funded if "Court TV" decides to buy the TV rights and place cameras 7/24 on the ISS to produce a reality TV show. (Instead of "Big Brother", they can call it "Damned Laywer")


Imagine the planet cheering when every week, the judges decide which lawyer will be kicked out the airlock. (and a new lawyer sent up by Soyuz to replace him).


Seriously though, except for node-2, columbus and kibo, the station modules really really need each other.

the US section requires the russian section for propulsion/reboosts. The russian section requires the electrical power from the US section. So a 2010 scenario where they separate the russians from the americans is not really possible on the ISS, especially since the escape pods/soyuz are on the russian side and it would leave americans without any means of escape.

If/when ATV actually flies, it will give Europe an imporant wedge into the "life critical" ISS loop since it will provide reboost capabilities as well as important resupply that will be badly needed by both russians and americans.

Where things could get interesting is Russia no longer accepting to ferry USA crews to the station.
.

Relevant Pages