Russia will not have enough funds to operate the International Space Station (ISS) and simultaneously finance the new Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS), said Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roscosmos. In his opinion, it is necessary “to provide for a certain period of “overlap”” when the ISS and ROSS will be used in parallel.
Mr. Rogozin believes that the ISS will be able to operate in orbit until 2028, “no longer.” “Due to financial constraints, we cannot simultaneously “pull” the ISS project and the construction of a new station,” the head of Roscosmos said in an interview with the Russian Space magazine published by the state corporation).pdf).
He clarified that the decision on the terms of operation of the Russian segment of the ISS will be made, “based primarily on technical limitations.” “Accordingly, we need to focus on the creation and launch of the first modules of the new station for this period,” said Dmitry Rogozin.
The plans of the Russian authorities to create a national space station were announced in the closed part of the meeting on the development of the space industry, which was held by President Vladimir Putin in April 2021. At the meeting, it was decided to warn ISS partners about withdrawing from the project from 2025. It was planned that ROSS should be operational by the end of the ISS operation.