Camaway2
Member
For those who like me are interested in space stuff, you surely have read on the news that Rogozin has threatened to pull the plug from the ISS program.
Ars Technica explain why this is unlikely:
"
The tweets led to a firestorm of media coverage today, much of it saying that Russia will end its cooperation on the International Space Station (see, for example, here and here). Such coverage lacks a fundamental understanding of Dmitry Rogozin and Russia's approach to spaceflight.
Cooperation on the space station will, of course, end at some point in the future. Some of the ISS's hardware has been flying in space for nearly 25 years, and it will eventually age out. And while Russia could decide to end cooperation this month, that seems unlikely. Russia is currently committed to operating the station through 2024, and even as the war has raged in Ukraine, there have been talks about possibly extending operations to 2030.
NASA's preference is to continue operating the station until 2030. For reasons that include a desire not to violate international treaties, the US alongside Europe, Japan, and Canada are unlikely to break the partnership with Russia. That, in effect, leaves the decision to Russia.
Rogozin has been blustering about pulling the plug on the International Space Station almost since the beginning of the war against Ukraine. However, he and the thousands of employees at Roscosmos have taken precisely zero concrete actions that would actually initiate that process. Indeed, earlier this week, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei returned to Earth on a Soyuz spacecraft. The operations were entirely nominal, and the relations between Russian and NASA officials were professional.
The possibility exists that Vladimir Putin could decide, at any moment, that Russian participation on the ISS no longer suits him. His decision-making process is opaque to Western observers. But pulling out of the ISS seems improbable, because walking away from the space station would be the equivalent of taking a wrecking ball to Russia's civil space program. And Russians take enormous pride in their space program, going back more than six decades to Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin. Without active cooperation with Western nations, however, Russia would almost certainly no longer be a space power—it would be the world's first former space power."
Full article here: Ars Technica
Ars Technica explain why this is unlikely:
"
The tweets led to a firestorm of media coverage today, much of it saying that Russia will end its cooperation on the International Space Station (see, for example, here and here). Such coverage lacks a fundamental understanding of Dmitry Rogozin and Russia's approach to spaceflight.
Cooperation on the space station will, of course, end at some point in the future. Some of the ISS's hardware has been flying in space for nearly 25 years, and it will eventually age out. And while Russia could decide to end cooperation this month, that seems unlikely. Russia is currently committed to operating the station through 2024, and even as the war has raged in Ukraine, there have been talks about possibly extending operations to 2030.
Further Reading
Legally, Russia can’t just take its Space Station and go homeNASA's preference is to continue operating the station until 2030. For reasons that include a desire not to violate international treaties, the US alongside Europe, Japan, and Canada are unlikely to break the partnership with Russia. That, in effect, leaves the decision to Russia.
Rogozin has been blustering about pulling the plug on the International Space Station almost since the beginning of the war against Ukraine. However, he and the thousands of employees at Roscosmos have taken precisely zero concrete actions that would actually initiate that process. Indeed, earlier this week, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei returned to Earth on a Soyuz spacecraft. The operations were entirely nominal, and the relations between Russian and NASA officials were professional.
The possibility exists that Vladimir Putin could decide, at any moment, that Russian participation on the ISS no longer suits him. His decision-making process is opaque to Western observers. But pulling out of the ISS seems improbable, because walking away from the space station would be the equivalent of taking a wrecking ball to Russia's civil space program. And Russians take enormous pride in their space program, going back more than six decades to Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin. Without active cooperation with Western nations, however, Russia would almost certainly no longer be a space power—it would be the world's first former space power."
Full article here: Ars Technica
