Russia could soon build its own orbital space station to replace the aging and largely unrepairable International Space Station.
While speaking on the proposed plan to develop an indigenous space station, Vladimir Solovyov, the First Deputy General Designer of Russia’s rocket and space corporation, Energia stated that the country’s own orbital station will consist of three to seven modules unmanned or with a crew of two to four people
At his address at a conference of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Space, Mr. Solovyov shared his skepticism about the life of the International Space Station (ISS) as the station was suffering from widespread component damages which are also becoming hard to replace.
Mr. Solovyov, who also serves as the flight director of the ISS Russian segment, remarked that the ISS may stop operation by 2025 and its cost of maintenance could be anywhere between $132-198 million.
Roscosmos, Russia’s own state space corporation is set to discuss the operational lifespan of the ISS with American space agency NASA early next year. The space corporation observed that the life span of the International Space Station highly dependent on the technical condition of the modules and certain political aspects that are planned to be addressed.
Roscosmos is currently awaiting proposals from Energia to build a new national space station which will have to be first cleared at the Roscosmos Scientific and Technical Council and then sent for review and approval by the Russian government.
