America and Europe increase cooperation in space research

The US Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) announced on January 16 that they will jointly conduct research in combining the US Orion shuttle spacecraft with self-propelled transports. (ATV) of ESA aims to bring astronauts beyond Earth orbit.

Under the agreement, the ATV ship will be directly connected under the Orion train to create thrust, while providing energy, controlling the hot air flow, as well as supplying water and oxygen gas to the astronauts.

NASA said the Orion assembly could be carried out in the United States, then the final finishing stage would be supported by the international agency. It is expected that Orion will be placed at ESA's space base before it is launched on the International Space Station (ISS).

Speaking to reporters, NASA's deputy director in charge of exploration of William Gerstenmaier said the "pregnancy" of Orion ships may have originated in the US but its final form was determined by international efforts. Besides, he also emphasized that space exploration should be done on the basis of international cooperation.

While the use of ESA modules is also quite expensive, Gerstenmaier believes that the agreement will allow NASA to rigorously test the spacecraft model without spending time testing the new system at the NASA center.

For his part, the ESA director in charge of space flight Thomas Reiter, also fully supports the agreement with NASA, and affirmed that this is a positive sign of showing American partners' trust in ability as well as ESA techniques.

Since 2008, the ESA module, also known as ATV, has made research supplies and equipment for scientists working on ISS. It is expected that the first unmanned launch of Orion will be carried out in 2017, and the manned launch with the combination of ATV will be conducted in 2021.