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Russian decision to build national space station to have impact on space exploration

Space exploration is under efficient control, and Russia has all the needed technology to build its station, President of the Italian Space Agency said, commenting on Putin’s statement

ROME, April 17. /TASS/. Russia’s decision to build its own space station will also have an impact on the international space exploration cooperation, President of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) Roberto Battiston said on Friday.

The Russians have created a very powerful and complex space exploration system. This sphere is under efficient, including political control, and Russia has all the needed technology to build its station, Battiston said, commenting on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement during his Thursday’s TV call-in session regarding the intention to build a space station by 2023.

According to the ASI head, for the United States space exploration will be shifting to the private business sphere, and the Americans do not intend to build an orbital station, but perform flights to asteroids and to the Moon.

He also said that after the International Space Station (ISS) life cycle expires next decade [2024], both Europe and the United States would no longer be able to maintain permanent presence in space. The creation of national space stations by other states, for instance, by China that has already stated this intention, and abandoning the use of orbital stations as such by the United States will create a paradoxical situation in which Europe loses an outpost in space, said the ASI chief.

In this context Europe needs to change its strategy and decide on the ways of space exploration in the future, Battiston said.