NASA may have been a little blinded this week when its partner, the Russian Roscosmos, revealed that it was going to decide whether it wanted to leave the ISS permanently. The space station has long been co-operated by the United States and Russia and has received astronauts from many different countries. Now Russia seems to be thinking, and he blames the age and the lack of functionality of the space station as reasons why it may depart.
At the time, it did not make much sense. The ISS has long been a major issue for Russia and it is one of the few areas where the United States and Russia have a cooperation agreement that, at least from the outside, works very well. Aside from political upheaval, there was apparently no reason why any country would want to leave, but a message by Dmitry Rogozin, Roscosmos boss at Telegram, helps make things even clearer. If Russia does decide to leave the ISS, it will surely do so in favor of its own space station.
As AP reported, a Telegram message appeared by Rogozin shortly after the news broke that the country was considering withdrawing from the International Space Station. The message was simple, with the Russian space boss declaring that “the first core module of the new Russian orbit station is in operation.” Rogozin also noted that Energia, the Russian state-owned aviation corporation, is working on the project and that it should be ready by 2025. The reports contain a video of Energia workers doing their thing.
Russia has already agreed to work with NASA on the International Space Station until 2024. In addition, another agreement must be reached to continue the cooperation. NASA has long believed it will work on the ISS until it makes sense to stop. Russia seems to be arguing that the limit will be reached soon, and that the space station may end up being too old and / or unsafe to feel comfortable sending its astronauts there.
If that does happen, and Russia pulls out of the ISS in 2025, it will be interesting to see what NASA decides to do. Russia is obviously working on its own space station that will start building in space in 2025, but NASA does not have such plans. The US space agency wants to send humans to the Moon within the next four years (or so) and is working on the Artemis program that will see the construction of a lunar gate as a starting point for missions to and from the lunar surface. This is all well and good, but none of the plans will fill a hole that would leave an abandoned ISS.
It may take a while before we see what Russia’s decision ultimately is, but the Russian talks this week will undoubtedly have caught NASA’s attention.
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See the original version of this article on BGR.com