MOSCOW, April 21. /TASS/. The effort of creating Russia’s new orbital station will require approximately as many funds as are necessary for maintaining the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) after 2025, Roscosmos Chief Dmitry Rogozin announced on Wednesday.
"There is an understanding that the funds required for maintaining the ISS and equipment (80% of it has used up its service life) and the funds for deploying a separate national orbital station are approximately the same money," Rogozin said.
Russia is beginning negotiations with its partners under the ISS project on the orbital outpost’s further fate, the Roscosmos chief said.
One of the options is to transfer the responsibility for the orbital outpost’s Russian segment to the ISS partners or extra-budgetary funds will be spent on its maintenance, Rogozin specified.
"We are beginning talks with our partners," he said, responding to a question about the further fate of the space station’s Russian segment.
The Roscosmos chief said on April 20 that Russia’s Energia Space Rocket Corporation had been assigned the task of making the first basic module for a new Russian orbital station ready in 2025. Work on it is already underway, he said.
Rogozin also posted a video of the first module under construction: this will be a research and power unit that was previously intended for its launch to the International Space Station in 2024.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov’s office announced on April 18 that the space station’s condition left much to be desired. In order to avoid any risks in case of accidents, it was necessary to carry out a technical inspection of the station. After this, a decision should be made on the orbital outpost’s further operation. Also, Borisov said in an interview with the 'Moscow. Kremlin. Putin' program on the Rossiya-1 TV channel that Russia might quit the ISS project in 2025.