MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th November, 2020) The International Space Station's systems are likely to start breaking down in large quantities after 2025, so it would make sense to focus on a national station, the deputy director general of Energia company, Vladimir Soloviev, said.
Excerpts from Soloviev statement, made at a meeting of the Russian academy of Sciences, were published by outlet Nauchnaya Rossiya (Scientific Russia).
"Russia has commitments regarding the ISS through 2025. Several elements are already seriously damaged and about to stop functioning. Many of them are impossible to replace. After 2025, we expect many ISS elements to start breaking down en masse," Soloviev said.
Energia, which manages the Russian segment of the ISS, estimates potential expenses of supporting the station to be 10-15 billion rubles [$130-198 million, likely per year].
"We have to review the timeline of our future participation in the program and focus on implementing the program for [national] orbital stations," Soloviev said.
At a meeting, chaired by the president of the Academy of Sciences, Alexander Sergeev, Soloviev presented a potential look of a new station with unlimited lifespan, which could be achieved by using replaceable modules.
The new station, officially named the Russian orbital service station, is expected to have three to seven modules and may host a crew of two to four people. The deployment is expected at some point after 2024, but no exact dates have been mentioned.
The ISS project involves 15 countries. The five main partners are Russia, the United States, Canada, Japan, and the European Space Agency. The construction of the station began in 1998, and the first permanent mission began its work in 2000.
