JRS: In article . com,
dated Sun, 28 May 2006 07:48:24 remote, seen in news:sci.space.station,
posted :


Does there exist an estimate of, or can someone here calculate, what
the ISS reboost requirements will be in the coming years (i.e., out to
2010 or 2015) if construction goes more or less as now envisaged and
the solar cycle follows current predictions?

Perhaps the appropriate measure would be newton-seconds per year or
kilograms of propellant per year.


Temporary page URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/$iss.htm, which needs
checking, relates the drag to the rate of height loss and the period ;
F/M = - pi/T dR/dt

For the present rate of drop of about 1 mm/s, the drag is equivalent to
about 0.05 micro-g; for M = 200 tons, that's 0.1 N implying 3 MN-s/yr.

Adjust for added drag, change of atmosphere, and change of height.

Check all, especially powers of 10.

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