MOSCOW. Sept 3 (Interfax) - The new module of the International Space Station (ISS), Nauka, will be working at least until 2036, chief designer of the Salyut Design Bureau, an affiliate of the Khrunichev Center, Sergei Kuznetsov said.
"No one in the Khrunichev Center doubts the ability of Nauka to work for 15 years or more," the Russky Kosmos magazine, the official media outlet of Roscosmos, quoted Kuznetsov as saying.
The magazine noted that "Nauka's warranty period expires in the end of 2027."
For now, the module is being tested at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, where it arrived from Moscow on August 19.
The checks and prelaunch preparations of Nauka will take about nine months, after which it will be put into orbit and latched on to the Russian segment of the International Space Station.
The launch of the module has been repeatedly postponed. The initial launch date was set for 2017, but the mission was delayed until 2018, reportedly due to clogging of the fuel system. The clogging could have disabled the ISS's fuel system, and so the module was returned to the manufacturer. Rogozin said later that the cause of the problem with the Nauka fuel system was not a clog, but a production defect. He also said that replacing the MLM's fuel tanks with those of the Fregat booster stage was being considered.
Rogozin said on April 2 that the module would be launched in early 2021. Now, it is obvious that the launch has been delayed again.
The service life of the ISS will expire in 2024. Russia is negotiating its extension until 2030 with its partners.
At present, Russia is planning to attach three new modules to the ISS, namely, the Nauka module, a node module, and a science and energy module. Glavkosmos General Director Dmitry Loskutov said in an interview with Interfax earlier that the attachment of said modules to the ISS's Russian segment will allow it to be independent within three years.
Energia Corporation General Designer Yevgeny Mikrin, who died of coronavirus in May, said earlier it would be reasonable to create a Russian orbital station upon completion of the ISS project and did not rule out an international project.