THE COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE MODULE
Notes:
The Russian economic crisis has provided some intriguing opportunities for private industry. Spacehab Inc. and NPO Energia have announced a small commercially financed laboratory that would be launched on a Zenit rocket in 2003. The “Enterprise” module would contain a windowed "studio bay" giving crew members views of the Station, arriving vehicles and Earth. Loosely based on the Progress cargo spacecraft, the “Enterprise” interior will be divided into two sections - a 64 position equipment bay able to accommodate standardized Station Express racks, Shuttle middeck lockers and Spacehab module lockers - and the studio bay. Described as "a large open space at the bottom end of the module," the studio will be set up to generate high definition video (HDV) for broadcast and multimedia distribution. Life support in the module is designed to support an hour-long press conference by six crewmembers, or full-time occupation by one or two crewmembers. Communications will be handled through the Spacehab Universal Communications System (SHUCS), an Inmarsat-based L-band terminal and antenna Lounge said will give two-way Internet connectivity "with a data rate similar to an ISDN connection."
“Enterprise” docked to the International Space Station. Plans call for the Enterprise module to be mounted to the nadir port of Russia's Zarya Service Module, a site also claimed by Boeing and Russia's Khrunichev for their “Commercial Space Module.” However, Spacehab and Energia have a signed agreement with the Russian Aerospace Agency granting them the nadir port, and Boeing has said it will let the Russian agency decide who in the end gets to use it.