NASA may have been a little blinded this week when its partner, Russia’s Roscosmos, revealed it was going to decide whether or not to leave the ISS permanently. The space station has long been collaborated by both the United States and Russia and has hosted astronauts from many different countries. Now it seems that Russia is in doubt, blaming the space station’s age and lack of functionality as reasons why it might leave.
It didn’t make sense at the time. The ISS has been a big deal for Russia for a long time and it is one of the few areas where the United States and Russia have a cooperation agreement that works quite well, at least from the outside. Political turmoil aside, there seemed little reason why either country would want to sail, but a message on Telegram by Roscosmos boss Dmitry Rogozin helps make things a lot clearer. If Russia decides to leave the ISS, it will almost certainly do so in favor of its own space station.
As AP According to reports, a Telegram message from Rogozin appeared shortly after news broke that the country is considering withdrawing from the International Space Station. The message was simple: the Russian space boss stated that “the first core module of the new Russian space station is in the works”. Rogozin also noted that Energia, Russia’s state-owned aerospace company, is working on the project and it should be ready for launch by 2025. The posts include a video of Energia employees doing their thing.
Russia has already agreed to work with NASA on the International Space Station until 2024. Furthermore, an agreement would still need to be reached for the cooperation to continue. NASA has long believed it will continue to work on the ISS until it makes sense to stop. Russia appears to be arguing that that limit will be reached soon and that the space station may eventually be too old and / or unsafe to send its astronauts there.
If that does happen, and Russia pulls out of the ISS in 2025, it will be interesting to see what NASA decides to do. Russia is clearly working on its own space station that it will start building in space in 2025, but NASA has no such plans. The US space agency wants to send humans to the moon within the next four years (or so) and is working on the Artemis program that will see the construction of a lunar gate as a starting point for missions to and from the moon. moon surface. That’s all great, but none of those plans would fill a gap that an abandoned ISS would leave.
It may take a while to see what Russia’s final decision is, but Russia’s chatter this week will undoubtedly have caught the attention of NASA.
Today’s best deals
-
This $ 16 clip-on lens kit fits the iPhone or any Android phone, and it’s great
-
Amazon deal offers a 7-inch Android tablet for less than $ 43
-
Save 61% on a 6-port USB fast charger on Amazon
-
Save 75% on a Canon Mono Laser Multifunction Printer on Amazon
See the original version of this article at BGR.com