Moscow. December 28. INTERFAX-A decision on the future of the International Space Station (ISS) is planned to be made in the first quarter of 2021, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said.
"The fate of the ISS has not yet been fully decided, it will be determined somewhere in the first quarter of next year, "Borisov said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel (VGTRK).
According to him, the Nauka module, which is planned to be launched next year to the ISS, can "subsequently become the base for the Russian station."
The lifetime of the ISS will expire in 2024. Previously, it was repeatedly reported about the possible extension of the station's operation until 2030.
On November 26, Roscosmos reported that in early 2021 it is planned to start consultations with NASA and other partners on the future of the station.
The head of the state corporation Dmitry Rogozin then said that the ISS is able to function for a long time, but a number of modules may have to be replaced.
"Of course, some ISS modules have significantly exceeded their service life (15 years), and we are monitoring their technical condition. But I think it's too early to write off the station. At the Mir station, some modules also had to be decommissioned, but this did not lead to conclusions about the "aging" of the entire station," Rogozin said.
Vladimir Solovyov, First Deputy General Director of the Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, said at a meeting of the Space Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences that the corporation's specialists predict "an avalanche-like failure of numerous elements on board the ISS" after 2025. According to him, due to the increased costs, experts consider it necessary to "review the terms of further participation in the program and focus on the implementation of orbital station programs."
Earlier, Rogozin said that Russia is preparing to create a new orbital station.
According to him, it can be based on new Russian modules - nodal and energy, developed for the ISS.
"We plan to add several modules to it: in fact, after 2030, the Russian Federation will be the country that will create a new station," Rogozin said.
In mid-May, he said that the Rocket and Space Corporation "Energia" under the leadership of Igor Ozar, who took the position of acting General Director, will develop the concept of a new orbital station.
Yevgeny Mikrin, the general designer of Energia, who died in May from coronavirus, previously called it expedient to create a Russian orbital station after the completion of the ISS project, while not ruling out international participation in the project.
"It will be possible to transfer all expensive equipment from the Russian segment of the ISS to this station. It will consist of five modules. The first three-MLM, nodal and NEM from the ISS-plus two more new ones. It will have a mass of 60 tons, " Mikrin said.