Moscow. November 9th. INTERFAX - Negotiations on international participation in the project of a new Russian space station should begin in the near future, said Academician Lev Zeleny, scientific director of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
"I think that for our future station, most likely in a high-latitude orbit, such international participation, European, maybe Chinese, would be interesting. But here it is necessary not to postpone all these agreements," Zeleny said at a scientific and technical conference of scientists and specialists of RSC Energia.
Earlier, the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said that Russia is ready for international cooperation in the creation of a new orbital station, which can become a prototype for the new ISS.
"Russia is ready to participate in an international project related to the creation of orbital stations. Here we are now talking about the Russian service orbital station. In fact, there is such interest in it now that we have thought about the fact that maybe the Russian orbital service station can become a prototype for the creation of a new ISS. Even with even wider international participation," Rogozin told reporters on Tuesday.
"It's too early to talk about it yet, but we have felt tremendous interest from our partners," he said.
Russia, as reported, has decided to build its own orbital station, an exit from the ISS project is being considered, and this is due to the deterioration of the technical condition of the Russian segment of the station.
Rogozin reported that about 80% of the equipment of the Russian segment of the ISS has exhausted its resource and the cost of its maintenance after 2025 will be comparable to the cost of creating a new station. Vladimir Solovyov, General Designer of the rocket and Space Corporation Energia, noted that the corporation records many violations that interfere with the normal operation of the station.
It was reported that Russia may withdraw from the ISS project from 2025, transferring responsibility for its segment to station partners. At the same time, it was noted that Russia can continue to support its segment with the financial participation of the United States.
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.
On July 31, the Scientific and Technical Council of Roscosmos approved the creation of a new Russian orbital station. The ISS is scheduled to be completed in 2028, by which time Roscosmos should launch a new Russian orbital station.
On September 21, the Scientific and Technical Council of Roscosmos and the Space Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences approved the concept of the new station and recommended submitting it to the Government of the Russian Federation.
Russia will be able to finance the construction of a new orbital station itself, but it is also ready for cooperation, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said on April 19, noting that the station could be "a kind of intermediate point for flights and exploration of the Moon, lunar space."
