The executive director of Roscosmos for promising programs and science Alexander Bloshenko on Friday, April 23, said that Russia plans to deploy a national station in orbit until 2035.
The station, he said, will be assembled in two stages, writes RIA Novosti.
Earlier on the same day, it became known that Dmitry Rogozin, General Director of Roscosmos, discussed with representatives of the cosmonaut corps the project of the future Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS).
On April 21, he announced that the scientific energy module (SEM), which was created for the International Space Station (ISS), will be redesigned for use in the new orbital station in Russia. He also noted that the equipment of the Russian segment of the ISS has already reached 80% of its service life, therefore, the construction of a new orbital station is also economically justified.
Moscow’s plans to withdraw from the ISS project from 2025 were announced by Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian government Yuri Borisov on April 18. On the same day, the press service of Roscosmos reported that the decision to continue work on the Russian segment of the station would be made after 2024.
The next day, the Deputy Prime Minister warned that the deterioration of the International Space Station (ISS) could have serious consequences, including catastrophe. According to him, Russia is able to independently finance the project of a new orbital station, but is ready to invite foreign partners into cooperation. Borisov noted that the new Russian station is the country’s transit point for flights to the Moon.
The Energia Corporation proposed to create a Russian national space station at the RAS Council in November 2020. They explained that a number of elements at the station are seriously damaged and cannot be replaced, and after 2025 their “avalanche-like failure” is predicted.
In the same month, it became known about plans to extend the operation of the ISS until 2030.
The ISS was launched into orbit in 1998, and two years later the first cosmonauts moved into the station. The participants of the international project are 14 countries: Russia, USA, Japan, Canada and members of the European Space Agency Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, France, Switzerland, Sweden. The station will expire in 2024.