In April this year. The Russian space agency Roscosmos has admitted that it is considering abandoning the International Space Station (ISS). At the moment, however, it is planned to maintain presence on the station until 2024. The reason for the decision – at least officially – is the dire technical condition of the International Space Station (the station is already 23 years old). According to Roscosmos, the number of failures is expected to increase significantly after 2025.
Perhaps not by chance, the agency announced the construction of its own space station only a few days later, which would be an all-national and “massive breakthrough” mission. The plant will be built by 2030 at a cost of about 6 billion dollar.
Russians: 80% of ISS items are “old”
as Now BBC reportsVladimir Solovyev, former cosmonaut, official and chief engineer of the Russian space company Energia, admitted in an interview with state media that the Russian part of the International Space Station is in poor technical condition. According to Sołowiwa, at least 80 percent. All systems have already passed their “validity period”. A lot of equipment will have to be replaced soon. According to the former astronaut, more defects may lead to irreparable failures on the International Space Station.
This week, the Russian Space Agency discovered another problem related to the tightness of the parts of the station, which was also confirmed by Soloviev. New cracks have been found in the Zarya module (the first to enter orbit), which – although small at the moment – may soon expand. However, they can already be the cause of small air leaks.
The Russians want to build their own space station
The Russians have long struggled with the problems of the narrowness of the International Space Station. In September 2019, cracks were discovered in Zuweizda unit. Patching the gaps has been attempted twice (in October 2020 and March 2021), but the problem persists. Another air leak was observed in this unit in July.
And this is not the end of the problems. At the end of July, Roscosmos connected a new science unit to the International Space Station, the construction of which was completed with a delay of 14 years. Unfortunately, due to a software error, the Science unit fired its engines shortly after docking at the station, causing the entire space station to spin. It took 47 minutes for the International Space Station to regain control by launching the maneuvering engines.
