Russia’s Plan To Ditch The ISS (& Build Their Own)

For decades, the ISS has been an icon of international cooperation. Two bitter enemies were able to put aside their differences and embark on a project that would better all of humanity. After 23 years though, the ISS is starting to meet its natural end, and Russia feels that it’s time to ditch the ISS and build their own national space station. So, here’s how Russia plans to withdraw from the ISS and their progress on their next space station. Before we get into Russia’s new space station, let’s first take a look at why Russia is leaving the ISS in the first place starting with of course aging. The ISS was mostly designed within the 1990s and the first ISS module was launched way back in 1998. So, at this point, astronauts at the ISS are basically using 20 to 30 year old technology. Nasa claims that there’s still plenty of research that can be completed with this technology itself, but there’s no question that new modules with up to date technology would make the process much smoother. The technology is not the only component that’s aging either, the overall body and exterior of the ISS is deteriorating as well. Space is an extremely unforgiving place with large amounts of radiation, super cool temperatures, and a plethora of space debris. Scientists did design the ISS to withstand all of the harsh forces found in space, but as the ISS ages, the likelihood of some component giving in is much higher. Just a few years ago, astronauts aboard the ISS noticed a drop in pressure. After a little digging, they found that there was a small hole in the walls of the ISS. They did quickly fix the issue and no one was hurt, but this incident makes it clear that serious problems can and have occurred. Russia actually points to safety being the primary reason that they are leaving the ISS. Last month, the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, Yury Borisov, stated quote, “We can’t risk the lives [of our cosmonauts]. The structure and the metal [are] getting old, [and] it can lead to irreversible consequences — to catastrophe.” Another major consideration when it comes to keeping the ISS running is funding. The ISS costs a massive $150 billion to construct. We don’t know how much money Russia spends on the ISS every year, but we do know that Nasa spends $3 to $4 billion annually to keep the ISS international. Assuming that Roscosmos spends a similar amount, Russia is throwing at least a few billion dollars at the ISS every year. By implementing all of the experience Russia has gained from operating the ISS, it’s likely that they can build a new space station that’s much cheaper to run. Something else to consider is that Nasa just recently stopped subsidizing Russia’s portion of the ISS. Since Nasa retired the space shuttle, they had been relying on Soyuz rockets to send US astronauts to the ISS. It’s estimated that between 2011 and 2019, Nasa spent a hefty $3.9 billion to fly US astronauts on Soyuz rockets. This revenue no doubt reduced Russia’s net input into the ISS. But, starting last year, Nasa started to rely on SpaceX for crewed ISS missions. Starliner also just completed its first fully successful uncrewed ISS mission, so Nasa now has two different options to send astronauts to the ISS. As a result, I don’t think they’re going to be buying tickets on Soyuz anytime soon meaning that Russia has to fork over more of their own money to keep the ISS running. And this simply doesn’t make sense for Russia when both them and NASA are ready for the next step. You see, the ISS is not the end goal when it comes to space exploration. The long term goal is to return to the moon and get people to mars and so on and so forth. So, neither NASA nor Russia are interested in spending the majority of their effort on the ISS. Nasa is looking to finally return humans to the moon in 2024 and Russia is working on putting humans on the moon themselves by 2030. In the meantime, Nasa is planning to open up the ISS to private astronauts and tourists. While I don’t think Russia has any objection against this plan, I also don’t think they really care to spend manpower on supporting the effort long term. So, those are some of the primary reasons that Russia is looking to ditch the ISS. Fortunately, they’re not just pulling out of the partnership without an ample warning time. Russia said that they will confirm or extend their departure date in 2025 meaning that Russia has given the ISS partners a minimum of 5 years to prepare for their departure. Whether they leave in 2025 or 2030 is really just dependent on how well their own space station development goes. Russia started working on this new space station in 2015, and they hope to have it ready for launch by 2025. If they are able to meet this deadline, the next goal is to put the entire station in orbit by 2030 at which point Russia would completely exit the ISS. Something that we should note though is that Russia said this exact same thing 6 years ago with different dates. In 2015, Russia announced that they were going to leave the ISS in 2020 and move into their own space station in the early 2020s. But clearly, that didn’t happen, so it’s very possible that these deadlines are pushed back once again. I do think that Russia is much more motivated to transition now that Nasa is no longer dependent on them. However, space technology almost always takes longer to develop than expected, so a more realistic timeframe may be completing the space station by 2030 and putting it into orbit by 2035. At that rate, Russia would stay on the ISS for another 15 years. Nasa is looking to deorbit the ISS in the 2030s or 2040s, so at that point, Russia may ironically end up sticking with the ISS till the end of its life. What will happen to Russia’s ISS modules though? Well, Russia was originally discussing disconnecting the modules and connecting it to their upcoming space station. But given the age of the older modules, it’s very possible that Russia simply retrieves some parts of them to be placed in museums and lets nasa deorbit the rest of the ISS. Anyway, moving onto the new space station, Russia is aiming for the new station to cost just $5 billion and it is being manufactured by Energia corporation. The new space station is called the Russian Orbital Service Station or ROSS. The station is expected to have 3 different docking ports. 1 for Soyuz crewed vehicles and 2 for Progress cargo ships. As for the core part of the station itself, we have 5 different modules with the first being the airlock module. As the name suggests, this module acts as an airlock for the space station. But more importantly, this module contains the spacewalk hatch. Next up, we have the transformable module. This module is unique as it can expand and constrict it’s internal volume. Once it’s attached to the space station, there’s really no reason to constrict the volume of the module, but launching it in its constricted orientation would save space on the launch vehicle. This module is expected to have exercise facilities and likely sleeping and restroom facilities as well. As for the Prichal node module, this module is supposed to serve as the core of the space station and connect all of the different modules together. The space station is also slated to have a gyroscopic module, but we don’t have details as to the purpose of the module. Anyway, the last two modules are all science and research modules with the first being the Nauka module. The Nauka module was actually originally designed to be docked with the international space station, but Russia decided to repurpose the module to be used in their own space station. This module is officially a multi purpose laboratory, but it also has a robotic arm, a science airlock, a radiator, and a couple of orbital correction engines. Finally, we have the science and power module which is apparently the most advanced portion of the space station. Not only will it have leading edge laboratories and flight control systems, but it will also offer extra living quarters. Aside from all of these modules, the station will of course have solar panels and propellant tanks to power the station and its engines. The entire station is estimated to have a pressurized volume of 220 cubic meters. To put that in perspective, the ISS has a pressurized volume of about 1000 cubic meters. The russian portion of the ISS is only 189 cubic meters though, so the ROSS is larger than the Russian part of the ISS. But in comparison to the overall ISS, the russian space station is about 1/5th to 1/4th of the size of the ISS. Considering the smaller size of the station, it is estimated that 2 cosmonauts will stay at the station for 2 month periods at a time. Russia plans to put the space station in a lower orbit than the ISS in the 300 to 350 km altitude range. Aside from being in a lower orbit, the space station will also follow a different orbital path than the ISS. The Russians want to put their station in polar orbit in order to monitor northern sea routes. They’re hoping to create new shipping routes through the arctic as the arctic ice melts. On top of creating new arctic routes, Russia is looking to get a much better view of mainland russia. Right now, Russia is only able to view about 20% of their territory from the ISS which has been one of their top complaints from the very beginning. With polar orbit, Russia should be able to view most of their territory unlike with the ISS. Aside from building their own space station for the earth, Russia is also partnering with China to build a lunar space station. This actually sounds extremely similar to Nasa’s lunar gateway project, but Russia isn’t really interested in participating in the lunar gateway project. They say that the Lunar gateway is way too US centric. They are, however, open to allowing other nations to use their lunar space station once it is complete. But that’s pretty much all we know about the russian chinese lunar space station at this point in time. At the end of the day, the ISS was a revolutionary project both scientifically and diplomatically. As the ISS continues to age and space technology continues to advance though, it makes less and less sense to support the ISS, especially with larger projects around the corner. NASA themselves is looking to pull the plug on the ISS within the next 10 to 20 years, but it looks like Russia isn’t willing to wait that long. So, they’re basically putting in their 5 years notice as they look to build their own space station within this decade. The station isn’t nearly as large as the ISS, but it is expected to be significantly cheaper, more efficient, and much more useful to the Russians. Aside from this, they’re also looking to partner with China to build a lunar space station, but we’ll just have to wait and see how that turns out. What do you guys think about Russia’s plan to ditch the ISS? Comment that down below. Also, drop a like if you guys are excited to see more space stations being launched. 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