Russia has announced its decision to withdraw from the International Space Station partnership after 2024. The new head of Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov, reportedly told President Vladimir Putin the news during a meeting on Tuesday.
“Of course, we will fulfill all our obligations to our partners, but the decision [to] leave this station after 2024 [was made],” Borisov said.
On Tuesday, senior NASA officials at the International Space Station Research and Development Conference (ISSRDC) in Washington said they had not received any communication from Roscosmos. They learned about Russia’s withdrawal from the ISS partnership from the news.
Late Tuesday evening, NASA administrator Bill Nelson also issued a statement:
“NASA is committed to ensuring the safe operation of the International Space Station until 2030 and is coordinating with our partners. NASA has not been informed of the decisions of any of the partners, although we continue to create future capabilities to ensure our main presence in low Earth orbit, ”he said.
NASA and Roscosmos are the two largest partners in the ISS, providing the possibility of its operation. Maintaining the station without one of them would be problematic. NASA is responsible for generating electricity for the station and helping to maintain the position of the spacecraft, while Roskosmos is responsible for periodically accelerating the station, preventing it from slowly deorbiting. It is impossible to quickly withdraw from the ISS partnership, this is regulated by the IGA agreement. It states that partners must notify other partners of their intention to leave at least one year in advance. Without written notice, the details of Russia’s exit plan remain unclear.
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Along with announcing his intention to leave the ISS, Borisov also said that by 2024 Russia plans to start building a new space station called the Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS).
Elon Musk briefly commented on Russia’s decision to withdraw from the ISS partnership with a “Happy Journey” message.
Bon voyage
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 26, 2022
Source: The Verge
Ars Technica editor: legally, russia can’t just take and leave the ISS (yes, we’re upset too)
