Russia’s Roscomos, the country’s space agency, has announced plans withdrawn from the ISS or the International Space Station after 2024. The announcement was made by Yuri Borisov, the new head of Russia’s space agency.
Borisov also said that Russia’s future efforts will focus on building a new Russian space station.
The ISS basically has two halves or main modules, one used and maintained by a team of Russian cosmonauts and one used and maintained by a number of different nations.
In order to keep the ISS in orbit, it is imperative that both sides are also maintained and updated simultaneously from time to time. With Russia withdrawing from the ISS, there is a very good chance that the ISS will have to be decommissioned much sooner.
For now, active agreements on the ISS Keep it operational until the end of 2024, and the station will need Russian modules to stay in orbit. The US and its partners, who operate the other half of the space station, have been trying to extend the station’s lifespan to 2030.
While Russia’s announcement represents neither a breach of contract nor an immediate threat to the station’s day-to-day operations, it does mark the culmination of months of political tensions surrounding the ISS.
Although both sides are conducting experiments and studies in accordance with the goals of their own agencies, there are a number of various studies involving both sides of the ISS.
In addition, Russia operates six of the ISS’s 17 modules, including the Zvezda module, which contains the ISS’s main propulsion system.
This thruster is not only crucial for keeping the station in orbit, but also for pushing it in different directions and clearing space debris out of the way. Under the ISS agreements, Russia retains full control and legal authority over its modules.
The Russian Space Agency has not revealed where it would allow its ISS partners to take control of Russian modules, although such a thing is highly unlikely.
It’s also unclear if it would be possible to separate the Russian modules from the rest of the ISS, as the entire station was supposed to be interconnected.
It was also envisioned that in the early stages of space tourism, the ISS would act as a way station for tourists and scientists before traveling on to their final destinations. This arrangement was to remain in place until a new half-station orbiting the Earth was operational.
Several Space and tourism startups those who pinned their hopes on the ISS must come up with a new plan or refocus their goals.
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