The International Space Station has its name for a reason. The orbital laboratory has hosted astronauts from around the world during its many years of operation. As new hardware has been installed on the spacecraft, its capabilities have increased and much science is being carried out. Over the years, the United States (NASA) and Russia (Roscosmos) have been the two main partners in keeping the space station running. One of the partners is now weighing the heavy decision to return. Hint: this is not NASA.
As the Russian TASS news agency reports, Russian officials have decided that it is time for the country to decide on the exit of the International Space Station. It is understood that the decision will be made after a technical inspection and survey of the spacecraft itself, a number of numbers and a risk assessment. Simply put, Russia no longer believes that the space station is suitable for long-term research efforts, and from 2025 it may no longer feel comfortable sending its scientists there.
There seems to be at least some information lost in the translation of the original Russian articles and what is reported on some news sites. Some stores say that Russia has already decided to leave the station, while other Russian officials quote that they are still weighing the decision. Either way, it is clear that Russia is no longer ‘all in’ on the ISS, and this is to blame for the technical status of the spacecraft itself.
Russia has conducted risk assessments for the spacecraft in the recent past and some of the country’s top specialists predicted the “failure of numerous elements aboard the ISS” after the year 2025. The country has already agreed to cooperate with NASA and his other partners. on the ISS project until at least 2024, and then it may decide that is enough.
A statement from Roscosmos also does not offer much assurance:
‘We have 2024 as an agreed time limit with our partners on the work of the ISS. Thereafter, decisions will be made based on the technical condition of the station modules, which have mostly deteriorated their lifespan, as well as our plans to implement a next generation national track station. ”
It would be interesting to see what NASA would do if their main ISS partner decided to return from the program in 2025. The spacecraft spent more than two decades in space and gradually grew as NASA and Russia expanded it, added more scientific equipment, and tested different modules for usability. Many new discoveries have been discovered in space over time, but no one will argue that it is the most modern machine orbiting the earth. Leaks have repeatedly surfaced, especially on the Russian side of the spacecraft. Eventually it needs to be replaced completely, but no one really knows when that will happen. For now, it’s still the choice for scientists who have to work in gravity.
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See the original version of this article on BGR.com