Russia is poised to start building its own space station with the goal of putting it into orbit by 2030 if President Vladimir Putin gives the green light, the head of his space agency Roscosmos said.
The project would end more than two decades of close collaboration with the United States aboard the aging International Space Station (ISS).
“If we can put it into orbit in accordance with our plans by 2030, it will be a colossal breakthrough,” quoted Interfax Roscosmos news agency chief Dmitry Rogozin. “The will is there to take a new step in the manned world exploration of space.”
Russian cosmonauts have been working with colleagues from the United States and 16 other countries over the ISS since 1998. It is one of the closest areas of cooperation between Moscow and Washington, whose relations are otherwise in crisis in terms of human rights, cyber-attacks and other issues.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov told Russian TV last weekend that Moscow would let its partners know that it would be leaving the ISS project from 2025.
Rogozin said that unlike the ISS, the Russian station would most likely not be permanently manned as it would be exposed to higher levels of radiation due to its orbit. But cosmonauts would visit, and it would also use artificial intelligence and robots.
He said Russia was willing to consider allowing foreign crews, “but the station must have a national nationality … If you want to do it right, do it yourself”.
Interfax quoted an unnamed source as saying that Russia planned to spend up to $ 6 billion to get the project started.