KHIMKI, Moscow region. March 17 (Interfax) - A decision on the creation of an independent Russian orbital station should be made before the end of this year, Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin told reporters.
"In any case, we will need to decide on the creation of a new station in 2021," Rogozin said.
Energia Deputy General Director Vladimir Solovyov said in October 2020 that the corporation's specialists predicted "an avalanche-like failure of numerous elements on board the ISS" after 2025. The specialists believe it is necessary to "revise the timeframe of further participation in the program and focus on the implementation of orbital stations' programs" due to the increased costs, Solovyov said.
Following his report, the Space Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences recommended revising the timeframe of the ISS's flight program and beginning work on a new concept for the development of Russian manned cosmonautics, "including the creation of national manned infrastructure in near-Earth orbit."
The service life of the ISS expires in 2024. Earlier reports have indicated that the station's service life could be extended until 2030.
Roscosmos said on November 26 that consultations with NASA and other partners on the future of the station were expected to begin in 2021. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov said on December 28 that the future of the ISS would be decided "in the first quarter of next year."
Yury Gidzenko, deputy head of the Center for Flight Operation of Spacecraft and Launch Vehicles at Energia, said on March 4 that a decision had been made "at the top levels" to prolong the station's service life until 2028.