The United States wants to extend the ISS to 2030, but it is not alone

NASA has finally received the White House’s authorization to extend its use of the International space station
(and all the investments that go with it) until 2030. A date often mentioned for its replacement …

But the other international partners have yet to formally accept.

From 2024 to 2030

The decision was awaited. Indeed, the American agency has never hidden that if it has invested so much in independent solutions to bring its astronauts and tons of cargo ships to the International Space Station, it was not to abandon them in 2024.

First, certain technical solutions will not be ready until a short time before this horizon (the Starliner manned capsule is not yet certified to receive astronauts at the start of 2022 and the small DreamChaser cargo shuttle is awaiting its inaugural flight at the end of year or next year!). Then the alternatives won’t be ready at maturity either, and that’s no secret. The private company Axiom is still advancing a date of 2024 to attach its first private module to the ISS, but the latter will not be an independent station for all that.

This is why the date of 2025 announced under the Trump era was not realistic. It remained to choose: 2028 or 2030? To allow time for the transition, the White House has signed a commitment to 2030.

We expand, we expand, and then …

Good news for the American segment, which has recent improvements (like the Nanoracks airlock) and which foresees future developments even before the transition to private orbital stations by the end of the decade. Still, it will be necessary to convince all the international partners of the ISS.

ESA President J. Aschbacher said he was very happy with this news and will suggest that the ministers of the European agency take this path. The choice of Japan and the approval of Canada are also not in doubt, but Russia will have to be convinced. Which is not so easy in a tense international climate: since the country invaded Crimea in 2014, every ISS deal seems to have been torn off with a hard fight. In addition, Roscosmos, through the voice of its director D. Rogozine, has already expressed doubts about the technical feasibility of such a long extension.

Be careful before committing!

Indeed, it is not enough to put a tamponade. Extending the life of the ISS means committing to putting in sufficient resources to ensure regular rotations of crews (manned vehicles, freighters) but also so that they can live and operate up there as a whole. their scientific and technical activities. And that also means dealing with the growing risks to low orbit stations, such as orbital debris.

All this comes at a cost: batteries, panels, exterior cooling, interior life support equipment, not to mention the investment dedicated to experiments. Some Russian equipment has shown signs of weakness in recent years, in particular the Zvezda module which is subject to increased surveillance following the appearance of microcracks in its rear segment. And on the ISS, we must be wary: not everything can be replaced. It will therefore be necessary to think carefully before committing to the whole decade.

Source: Spacenews