Moscow. September 2. INTERFAX-The deployment of a new Russian orbital station is planned to begin in five to six years, the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said.
"We plan to deploy this station in about five to six years," Rogozin said on Thursday at the New Knowledge forum.
Earlier it became known that Russia may withdraw from the ISS project from 2025, transferring responsibility for its segment to its station partners. An alternative would be the creation of a national orbital station, the first module of which is planned to be launched in 2025, and the deployment will be completed in 2035. Russia decided to build its own orbital station due to the deterioration of the technical condition of the Russian segment of the station.
In October 2020, the head of flights of the Russian segment of the ISS, Vladimir Solovyov, said that Roscosmos specialists predict an avalanche-like failure of numerous elements on board the ISS after 2025. According to him, due to the increased costs, specialists consider it necessary to review the terms of further participation in the program and focus on the implementation of the programs of orbital stations. For his part, Rogozin said that about 80% of the equipment of the Russian segment of the ISS has exhausted its resource, and the cost of maintaining it after 2025 will be comparable to the cost of creating a new station.
Rogozin said that he plans to discuss with the head of NASA the future fate of the ISS. He noted that Russia may abandon plans to leave the ISS after 2025, if it is possible to agree with the United States on the commercial use of the Russian segment of the station.
On June 5, 2021, Rogozin and the new head of NASA, Bill Nelson, held telephone conversations. According to Roscosmos, Nelson accepted the invitation of the head of the Russian state corporation to visit Russia and offered to extend the work of the ISS until 2030. Rogozin then noted that the discussion of the future fate of the ISS is possible only after the lifting of US sanctions against Roscosmos enterprises.