Nizhny Novgorod. May 22. INTERFAX-Roscosmos does not rule out continuing participation in the ISS project after 2025, the decision is up to the president, Alexander Bloshenko, executive director of the state Corporation for Science, told Interfax.
"Actually, there are two options. The first is the ISS as it is now, taking into account the fact that there are certain advantages in the form of well-developed management of the station, well-established interaction with partners, because this is a project that connects us with America and other partners. On the other hand, during the work of the Mir and the ISS, we have worked out most of the scientific issues that interest us. With this in mind, we can already look at the creation of a new station with qualitatively new ambitious tasks," Bloshenko said, answering a question about the future of the ISS.
"In principle, both options have the right to life, depending on what tasks the head of state sets for us. Now we are waiting for a decision and preparing technical calculations, " he added.
Earlier it was reported that Russia may withdraw from the ISS project from 2025, transferring responsibility for its segment to the station's partners. At the same time, Bloshenko said that Russia can continue to support its segment with the financial participation of the United States.
The alternative is to create a national space station, the first module of which is planned to be launched in 2025, and to complete the deployment in 2035.
As the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, reported, the cost of maintaining the Russian segment of the ISS after 2025 will be comparable to the creation of a new station. According to him, the state corporation is ready to start creating a new station now and is waiting for the relevant instructions of the government and the president.
ROBOTS AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AT THE NEW STATION
The new station will not be permanently inhabited, like the ISS, but visited because of the increased radiation danger. The President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexander Sergeev, noted that robots and artificial intelligence are planned to be used at the station.
According to Solovyov, at the first stage the station will consist of four modules, and in the future their number will increase to six. The crew of the station will be two to four people, the volume of the hermetic compartments will be 667 cubic meters at the second stage. At the same time, the number of external jobs will reach 48. Astronauts will visit the station once or twice a year, and it is also planned to send up to three cargo ships a year to the station.
Russia will be able to finance the construction of a new orbital station itself, but it is also ready for cooperation, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said on April 19, noting that the station can be "a kind of intermediate point for flights and exploration of the Moon, lunar space."
