Ah, you know what? Keep your crappy space station, we're gonna try to make our own, Russia tells world
- Reference: 1619053275
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/04/22/russia_iss_2025/
- Source link:
On Wednesday, Roscosmos indicated it was waiting for the thumbs up from President Putin to build the new platform, which will not be constantly manned due to the level of radiation from its planned orbit, and will use robots and machine-learning software. The lab is intended to get a good view of potential Arctic shipping routes for the Kremlin, and an initial module of the structure could [1]be launched as early as 2025.
[2]
In the meantime, Russia intends to either hand its section of the International Space Station (ISS) to the Americans and their pals in 2025, or commercialize its portion of the lab. We note the Kremlin's agreement to be involved in the orbiting station is due to run out in 2024, and it appears there's no appetite to renew that commitment.
"We are beginning negotiations with our NASA partners," Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin [3]said earlier today, according to the Interfax news agency. "We are formalizing them now, and it does not mean that the station will be scrapped and dumped into the ocean immediately after 2025.
It does not mean that the station will be scrapped and dumped into the ocean immediately after 2025.
"We will simply hand over the responsibility for our segment to the partners. Or we will do the work necessary for operating the station on the commercial basis, rather than at the expense of the budget."
Some years back, NASA [4]mulled offloading the ISS to the commercial world around the mid-2020s, though there is [5]skepticism that will be possible. The creaky station is thus [6]expected to be operated by the public sector until at least 2028, and the proposed Artemis Moon landing program could spark renewed enthusiasm for the longest-occupied off-planet platform.
[7]
Speaking of the new Russian station, which may cost around $6bn, Rogozin [8]continued : "If in 2030, in accordance with our plans, we can put it into orbit, it will be a colossal breakthrough. The will is there to take a new step in world manned space exploration."
‘Radiation upset’ confused computers, caused false alarm on International Space Station [9]READ MORE
Over the weekend, state TV reported that Russian deputy prime minister Yury Borisov believed it was time to bail out of the International Space Station due the deteriorating state of the 23-year-old platform – by which he probably also meant the deteriorating state of US-Russia relations.
"The situation that today is connected to the structure and the metal getting old, it can lead to irreversible consequences, to catastrophe," Borisov was quoted as saying. "We mustn't let that happen."
[10]
What with the ongoing [11]sanctions and [12]rows over election inference and counter-attacks, and [13]escalating tensions over Ukraine, it's hard to imagine the genesis of the International Space Station in 1998, a collaboration between America and Russia that grew to include Canada, Japan, and Europe. ®
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[1] https://interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/71627/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YID02Vy1cSnZ9McmzMp@OAAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/71637/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2016/08/22/nasa_wants_to_sell_international_space_station_to_private_enterprise/
[5] https://www.commerce.senate.gov/2018/5/examining-the-future-of-the-international-space-station-administration-perspectives
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/04/iss_crew_20_years/
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YID02Vy1cSnZ9McmzMp@OAAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/science/russia-plans-launch-own-space-station-after-quitting-iss-2021-04-21/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/26/iss_radiation_false_alarm/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YID02Vy1cSnZ9McmzMp@OAAAAMM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/15/solarwinds_hack_russia_apt29_positive_technologies_sanctions/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2019/06/27/nsa_yandex_hack/
[13] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-ukraine-military-buildup-crimea-putin-black-sea-airspace/
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: It does have a finite life
"We can do so much more with machines now that it seems pointless maintaining a permanent presence out there."
Incremental stuff makes a huge difference in the long term.
My Grandfather used to tell us tales about people (himself included) saying that the new-fangled electricity was a waste of time, it was too fiddly, and was a fad that would fade away with time. In fact he himself had it run to his house, used it for about a year, and then cancelled the service for the next fifteen years! At that point, he was quite behind the neighbors, much to his wife's displeasure.
Re: It does have a finite life
Your grampa was still living on this planet, surrounded by air, water, a natural protective shield against cosmic radiation, and not suffering from premature osteoporosis. Maintaining a human outpost out there is expensive, risky and does not return as much scientific knowledge as a robotic mission on the long term.
If anything, the main contribution of 20 something years of human presence on LEO was the confirmation of how complex it is to maintain us alive in such a harsh environment.
It's okay to quote Kennedy on why we choose to go outside our own planet, but once we proved we can do it, it's even better to keep sending probes who are able to stay longer and send data back to where we have all the necessary instruments to analyze it and gain much better insight from it. It might not be as romantic or thrilling as watching some fleshbag trotting on some extraterrestrial surface, but it still is the best way to know our cosmic neighborhood better, and ultimately decide where we should send our next manned expedition.
Keep your crappy space station, we're gonna try to make our own
.. with blackjack and hookers!
Re: Keep your crappy space station, we're gonna try to make our own
And vodka. Don't forget the vodka. Which NASA frowns on ... hmmm, I wonder ... Nah. Couldn't be.
Don't let the ...
... door hit you in the arse on the way out, ingrates.
Don't believe it for a second!
Russia simply can not afford to build a space station of its own, and it wouldn't make any sense either. This is just one of Putin's empty promises whose only purpose is to stop the further tanking of his popularity. It's his version of building a wall at the Mexican border.
It does have a finite life
The ISS has a finite life though exactly how old it oculd get before it became hazardous is anyone's guess. I wouldn't want to spend time there, I suspect it would be like living in a cramped slum with poor plumbing and ventilation. We now know enough to be able to make a much better orbital platform so I would have expected that the current station would be either gradually retired or eventually abandoned and de-orbited bit by bit.
We've learned a lot since the 1960s. One is that space travel is neither interesting nor romantic, its nothing like its been portrayed in Science Fiction. We can do so much more with machines now that it seems pointless maintaining a permanent presence out there.