What Departure From Russia Could Mean For The International Space Station

Ben Tobias From BBC News

posted on 07/26/2022 20:45

On Tuesday (July 26) Russia announced that it would leave the International Space Station (ISS) after 2024 and build its own station.

The new head of the Russian space agency Roskosmos, Yuri Borisov, said the institution will fulfill all its obligations to the ISS until its departure.

The US and Russia, along with other partners, have been working together on the ISS since 1998.

Roskosmos Russian cosmonauts on the ISS recently displayed the flag of the selfproclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic

But relations between the two powers have been strained since Russia invaded Ukraine. Moscow had previously threatened to abandon the project because of sanctions imposed by Western countries since the start of the war.

The ISS a joint project of five space agencies has been in orbit around Earth since 1998 and has been used to conduct thousands of scientific experiments.

The station is authorized to operate until 2024, but the US wants to extend the term by another six years with an agreement between all partners.

During a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Borisov said his country had made the decision to end the project after 2024.

“I think at that point we will start building a Russian orbital station,” Borisov said, adding that the new station is his agency’s top priority.

“Good,” Putin replied.

It remains unclear what this decision means for the future of the ISS. A senior NASA official told Portal that the US space agency was not officially informed of Russia’s plans.

Portal The ISS has been orbiting the earth since 1998

Cooperation with Europe in decline

Cooperation on the ISS between Russia and the US appeared relatively unscathed by the war in Ukraine, with the two countries signing an agreement earlier this month allowing Russian cosmonauts to travel to the station on US spacecraft and vice versa.

The agreement “would encourage the development of cooperation within the framework of the ISS program,” said a Roskosmos statement.

However, the war hit other areas of cooperation between Russia and the West.

The European Space Agency (ESA) ended its collaboration with Roscosmos to send a reconnaissance vehicle to Mars, and Russia halted launches of its Soyuz spacecraft from an ESA launch center in French Guiana.

The Soviet Union and Russia have a long history of space exploration. Achievements such as sending the first man into space in 1961 remain a source of national pride.

In his meeting with Putin, Roskosmos chief Borisov said that Russia’s new space station will provide Moscow with space services necessary for modern life, such as navigation and data transmission.

Analysis by Jonathan Amos, BBC science correspondent

The Russians have been announcing their withdrawal from the ISS for some time, but it is still unclear how serious this decision is.

They talked about building its own outpost the Russian Orbital Service Station but that would require a financial commitment, which the Russian government has yet to prove for the space exploration already being conducted across the country.

Certainly the Russian elements and parts that make up the ISS are aging, but engineers believe the modules will be able to perform their function by 2030.

A withdrawal by Russia would undoubtedly be problematic. The station is designed to make partners dependent on each other.

The American side of the ISS provides the power; The Russian side provides the propulsion and prevents the station from crashing to earth.

If that booster ability is retired, the US and its other partners Europe, Japan, and Canada will have to find other means of boosting the station on a regular basis. It’s something American robotic freighters could do.

ESA/NASA image of part of Europe as seen from the ISS