Posted on 11/28/2020 1:16:09 PM PST by BenLurkin
A recent report from Russian manufacturer RSC Energia, the prime developer and contractor of the Russian crewed spaceflight program, states that a number of elements aboard the International Space Station are on the verge of catastrophic failure. The damage has become so serious, it will become too costly to repair and as such Russia should focus on completing its own orbital station instead...
The comments were made by Soloviev during a meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences Council on Space, which took place on 25 November, 2020 and were reported by Scientific Russia on their website.
Among the participants were President of the Russian Academy of Sciences and chair of the meeting, Alexander Mikhailovich Sergeev, former Director of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI RAS), Lev Matveyevich Zeleny, Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yuri Balega and Director of the Russian rocket and spacecraft scientific center, TsNIIMASH, Alexander Milkovskii.
During the discussion, the Flight Director also noted that estimates to fix the problems aboard the ISS would amount to around 10-15 billion rubles, a cost that was deemed “too high” by RSC Energia.
Instead, said Soloviev, it is necessary “to revise the terms of further participation in the program” and focus on the implementation of the Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS), which is currently being developed at RSC Energia.
ROSS is expected to consist of three to seven modules that can either be run automatically or with a crew of two to four people. As the modules can be replaced, it would mean the station has an unlimited lifetime. The deployment of ROSS is expected at some point after 2024, but no exact dates have been mentioned.
(Excerpt) Read more at room.eu.com ...
ISS is not much more than a big set of maintenance contracts in search of a reason to justify its existence.
Before shuttle retired, the US flew up a lot of extra equipment to handle future repairs. Dragon is going to shift a lot of the taxi service fees to the US. Russia just doesn’t want to pay it’s share of the maintenance bill and the russian contractor can make more money with less international oversight building its own modules.
So, they might have the expertise which is surprising, considering how much of their blueprints, on all things, turn out to be vaporware.
Can they afford it, because they couldn’t last time.
I will be sorry to see the space station go, but if it is deteriorating that much it should be abandoned before a malfunction kills some astronauts or cosmonauts.
> Some people here agree with Hillary and Obama that Russia is our enemy... <
The main threat to the West is radical Islam. But no one wants to acknowledge that. Next on the list is the siren call of socialism. Again, no one wants to acknowledge that.
Is Russia also a threat? Perhaps. But it’s so far down on the list that it’s not worth considering.
Eh? Russia has no hand in the US Orbital Segment of the ISS.
I used to joke, somewhat unfairly, that the purpose of the Space Shuttle was to send stuff to the I.S.S. and the purpose of the I.S.S. was to give the Space Shuttle something to do.
I just wanna know when and where it’s gonna hit.
Yup, Russia was Mir-ly one of a group that constructed modules for the station.
They have been kind enough to allow us to ride to the station on their rockets... for a price.
Sell it to SpaceX.
It IS ancient at this time.
That was funny.
For parts, maybe.
Life expectancy was 2020, but recently extended to 2024.
The SpaceX Starship will be able to lift more weight than the Saturn V, and be reusable.
So, about 20 bucks then? No problem.
In all seriousness, I looked up the exchange rate. 10 billion Rubles is about 131 million dollars, so even at the high side of their estimate, 15 billion Rubles, we’re talking about a little under 200 million dollars. That’s less than half the list price of a single Boeing 777-8. So to anyone other than the Russians, that’s not really a very high price to pay, so long as there’s a will to keep the station long enough to justify it.
Quit letting these vehicles burn up in atmosphere, when they can be made to maintain a 22F, minimal O2 environment. The ISS in particular could be designed as a hella pack mule for a Mars supply hog. All the locks and entries are fully tested/compatible, and even if you can't establish pressured O2, just get in there grab your shit and head for the surface.
If that’s the case then its imperative it be kept up there doing something so it can serve as a training station for managing space systems decline and improvised repair and such.
It could even be boosted a bit higher or enough fuel and motors hauled up to it to push it out to a LaGrange point, along with tethering any accumulated/captured orbital debris around it.
It costs a lot to get all that crap up there and letting it fall back to earth is pretty stupid. At the very least it ends up down the road as recyclable scrap. At some point people are going to have to start fabricating, smelting, manufacturing stuff up there and that’s a good place to start practicing.
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