A long and extensive international cooperation will come to an end. Yuri Borissov, the new boss of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, announced on Tuesday July 26 that Russia would leave the International Space Station (ISS) “after 2024”. A real big bang since, since its origin, the ISS is the result of coordinated work between the United States, Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan. Franceinfo returns to this situation in five questions.
What did the boss of Roscosmos say?
“We will no doubt fulfill all our obligations with regard to our partners (…) but the decision to leave this station after 2024 has been taken”, Yuri Borissov said during a televised meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Here are the pictures (in Russian) from the Russian news agency Tass.
Владимир Путин провел встречу с новым главой Роскосмоса Юрием Борисовым.
Video: Kremlin. ru pic.twitter.com/S5hJVfsnXd
— ТАСС (@tass_agency) July 26, 2022
Yuri Borisov then sketched out Russia’s future in space: “I think that by then we will start creating the Russian orbital station”who will be “the main priority” of the national space program. “The future of Russian manned flights must be based above all on a systemic and balanced scientific program so that each flight enriches us with knowledge”he specified.
“It’s a great honor for me, but also additional obligations”Yuri Borissov also commented. “The space domain is in a difficult situation, and I think my main task (…) is not to lower the bar, but to raise it, above all by providing the space services necessary for the economy Russian.”
How did NASA and ESA react?
Robyn Gatens, director of the ISS at NASA, held a press conference in Washington shortly after this announcement. “We have not received any official statement from our partner regarding today’s news”she assured. “So we’re going to discuss their plans further.” But do the Americans want the Russians to leave the International Space Station? “Absolutely not”she said.
“They have been good partners, as have all of our partners, and we want to continue together, as a partnership, to operate the space station for the decade.”
Robyn Gatens, director of the ISS at NASAat a press conference
The fact that Russia leaves the ISS after 2024 and builds its own space station “is not new and had been mentioned in the past”notes for its part the European Space Agency (ESA), contacted by franceinfo.
What is the context of this ad?
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, international space cooperation with Russia has been stopped or suspended, such as Russian launches from Kourou, in Guyana, or the Exomars mission. But within the ISS, the work continued.
“The ISS has remained this little bubble in space, out of the ground wars. A place where Russia, the United States and Europe collaborate.”
Mathilde Fontanez, editor-in-chief of “Epsiloon” magazineon franceinfo
“Even if the scientific collaborations between the German and Russian astronauts were interrupted. Everything went normally”underlines the scientific journalist.
This was noted on March 30, a little over a month after the start of the Russian offensive: an American astronaut returned from the ISS aboard a Soyuz spacecraft in the company of two Russian cosmonauts, as France Inter reported.
/2022/07/27/phpt8SX0s.jpg)
More recently, NASA announced in mid-July to resume joint flights with the Russians to the ISS to ensure “continuity of operations” from the station. Two American astronauts will fly aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket on two separate missions, the first of which is scheduled for September. Two Russian cosmonauts will also fly aboard SpaceX rockets, a first.
Recently, Samantha Cristoforetti made the first spacewalk by a European astronaut from the ISS on July 22. The Italian worked for six hours, at an altitude of some 400 km, in the company of Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemiev.
“Aboard the Station, they are all professionals: the Russians do the job, the others too. They are all trained to work together, and they are in such circumstances that they can only work together”says geographer Isabelle Sourbès-Verger, CNRS researcher and specialist in space issues.
What will be the consequences for the ISS?
On this point, everything remains to be clarified. But to understand the implications of Russia’s departure, we must return to its role. These last years, “the big change for the Russians is that we no longer need their ship to reach the International Space Station”recalls Isabelle Sourbès-Verger.
The American company SpaceX, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, indeed carried out its first “operational” mission in November 2020 by sending four astronauts on board the ISS. SpaceX thus became the first private company to accomplish this feat. With this new means of space transport, NASA has put an end to nine years of dependence on Russian spacecraft. Other trips using SpaceX have taken place since, including that of Frenchman Thomas Pesquet.
Reliance on Russia was further eroded when, for the first time, the ISS course was corrected by a non-Russian craft. Since 1998, and the beginning of the International Space Station, it is necessary to intervene regularly so that it does not deviate, and to avoid that it ends up crashing on Earth. Historically, “This is the role of Russian cargo ships. Only they have the ability to turn on their engines to give a small boost to the station and guarantee the stability of its orbit”explains Mathilde Fontanez.
In March, at the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia threatened to end these maneuvers. But at the end of June, a Cygnus cargo ship (from the industrialist Northrop Grumman), which supplies the Station with food and equipment, carried out a test before leaving the ISS. While remaining moored at the tation, the freighter fired its main engine for five minutes. This allowed the ISS to ascend a few hundred meters.
Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo ship boosts International Space Station’s orbit https://t.co/oebhbG8qlR pic.twitter.com/gmbg5KsCqe
— SPACE.com (@SPACEdotcom) June 28, 2022
However, this first successful attempt does not solve everything and Russia’s withdrawal has consequences. “If the Russians pull out, taking with them their ability to put the Station back into orbit, NASA will have to find a way to do it itself and it won’t be easy”warned Bill Harwood, consultant on space issues, interviewed on the chain CBS (in English).
For Isabelle Sourbès-Verger, questions arise in particular as to “the interview of the Russian side” of the International Space Station, and the possible difficulties that this may cause. The ISS works with an international agreement and touching it induces long negotiations, she explains. She specifies that it will be “essentially discussions between lawyers” to define the conditions of departure from Russia.
“It’s a complicated situation for the Russians and for the Americans. Nobody wins in this.”
Isabelle Sourbès-Verger, researcher at the CNRSat franceinfo
Clearly, nothing has been decided for the moment and the operation of the ISS is guaranteed until 2024. The European Space Agency points out that Roscosmos has confirmed that it will “to fulfill all its obligations with regard to its partners”.
When is the end of the ISS expected?
ESA intends to continue to operate the European module Colombus until 2030. For its part, NASA announced at the beginning of the year that the end of the ISS was scheduled for 2031 (in English). Once emptied of valuable and reusable material, the Station will be desorbed and fall back to Earth. But not just anywhere: at the Nemo point. This place is the pole of oceanic inaccessibility of the Earth. “There is practically nothing in this part of the South Pacific: no islands, no inhabitants, almost no sea or air traffic”, notes Benjamin Bastida Virgili, engineer in the space debris office of ESA, on franceinfo. This is where the Mir station ended in 2001 and the Skylab station in 1979.