MOSCOW, March 10. /TASS/: Prolonging the life cycle of the International Space Station till 2030 will require colossal funding, or else the station will "fall apart," the CEO of Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said at a meeting with the LDPR faction in the State Duma.
"For the time being we have the government’s permission to use the ISS till 2024," Rogozin says in a video released by the party’s press-service. "The US has made a decision to work there till 2030. We believe that the station may fall apart by 2030. Its original life cycle was 15 years. It was orbited in 1998. The 15-year deadline has long expired."
Rogozin predicts that various risks will emerge for the crew, should the ISS continue to be operated as it is.
"Colossal investment will have to be made in ISS repairs. But does this make sense when the US, the British and the Europeans behave the way they do?" Rogozin said.
At the end of February, he speculated that the ISS might remain in service no longer than 2028. At first, the ISS and Russia’s yet-to-be created orbital service station will be used in parallel.
Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov said in April 2021 that the condition of the ISS left much to be desired, so Russia should focus on creating its own space laboratory. The space rocket corporation Energia was tasked with delivering the first module of a new national orbital station in 2025. This role will be assigned to the research and energy module that according to the original plan was to be launched to the ISS in 2024.
The Roscosmos scientific and technical council has recommended including research and development for a new orbital station in the 2025 federal space program.
