The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest ever global collaboration in science and engineering, becoming an international meeting point for astronauts for two decades. Now, when the ISS mission is coming to an end, this future of international cooperation is facing many challenges.
Ending the East-West cooperation phase
In April alone, ISS has been busy with flights up and down. On April 9, the Russian Soyuz rocket sent 1 American astronaut and 2 Russian astronauts to the ISS laboratory 420km from the Earth’s surface. Eight days later, another Soyuz rocket carried another trio of American and Russian astronauts back to Earth. On April 23, the US spacecraft SpaceX brought two more Americans, one Japanese and one French to connect to the ISS. However, such bustling scene on ISS is about to come to an end. Last week, Russia announced it would withdraw from the ISS by 2025. Despite the growing tensions between Russia and the US over the past decade, the two countries ‘space agencies continue to work closely with each other, along with 13 countries’ space agencies. According to the US Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), since 2000, ISS has welcomed 243 people from 19 countries. According to the Financial Times, Professor Anu Ojha, director of the UK National Aerospace Institute and an advisor to the European Space Agency (ESA), said: “I only hear positive things about astronauts and astronauts as they work together “. In the early years of building and assembling modules of ISS, since 1998, Russia and Western partners cooperated closely. “NASA and ESA cannot build a space station without Russian experts,” said Ojha. The Russians are masters of building modular space stations ”. 
The ISS station once welcomed astronauts from many countries Western countries need Russian rockets to carry materials and people to and from the ISS. This reliance increased when NASA decommissioned the space shuttle fleet in 2011 and Soyuz became the only passenger vehicle that could put astronauts in orbit. Only in 2020, NASA will begin to use the SpaceX spacecraft system of billionaire Elon Musk. For the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos), cooperation with the West through the ISS also adds to the financial resources. NASA spent $ 3.9 billion to hire Soyuz to transport astronauts to the ISS from 2011 to 2019. Although astronaut Mark Vande Hei’s trip to the ISS in April may not be the last of an American on Russian rockets, the majority of non-Russian astronauts will travel on SpaceX or on Boeing’s Starliner, expected to go into service from 2022. During the first 15 years, the ISS crew focused on assembly and engineering work, which meant that the zero gravity work environment was only just being established. Recently, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, who just returned to Earth in mid-April, recounted her hundreds of hours on the ISS to do biological experiments, from decoding DNA on a space station to growing human heart tissue and vegetables. . ISS’s most important area of research is its attempt to understand the long-term effects of space travel on human health, in preparation for planned attempts at the Moon or travel to Mars. Other direction of cooperation For Russia, the decision to end ISS participation is expected to lead to more spatial cooperation with China. It is also part of the Kremlin’s broader pivot to Beijing. Since Western sanctions were first imposed on Moscow in connection with Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia has doubled down on its efforts to strengthen ties with China. The two countries reached agreements on defense and space cooperation while bilateral trade nearly doubled compared to 2010, reaching $ 110 billion in 2019. In 2020, Roscosmos rejected an offer from the US to join NASA-led Artemis program, aimed at bringing people to stay longer on the Moon. In March, Russia and China agreed to jointly develop a base on the Moon to “promote the peaceful discovery and use of space for all mankind” (according to a memorandum of understanding between the two. country). Roscosmos last week also said it aims to set up its own Russian space station by 2030, using modules designed like the ISS. The Interfax news agency quoted Roscosmos Director, Dmitry Rogozin, as saying: “It is likely that by 2030, we can put a space station into orbit, that will be a huge breakthrough.” On Russian television, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said that in the future, on the Russian space station, in addition to astronauts, there will be the participation of artificial intelligence and robotics. He stressed that Russia is ready to consider for foreign crews to visit, but definitely the Russian space station must be national. Interfax quoted an unnamed source as saying that Russia planned to spend up to $ 6 billion to put this project into operation. China will also soon introduce the module to build the China Space Station (CSS). The ship carrying this module is scheduled to take off at the end of April. This is the culmination of the project that the Chinese government launched in 1992. After this module goes into space, China plans to launch at least 10 more times. Another launcher carries the remaining modules and cargo to complete the CSS assembly by the end of 2022. The 100-ton, T-shaped CSS will consist of three main modules: the 18-meter core module, called Tianhe, and two 14.4-meter lab modules, called Wentian, that are permanently attached to the sides. of the core module. As the station’s control and control center, Tianhe can accommodate 3 astronauts with a stay of up to 6 months. CSS has volume less than 1/4 the volume of ISS. Instead, configure 3 modules based on China’s need in doing the necessary scientific experiments. The 440-ton ISS with a construction cost of $ 150 billion will end its lifespan and should be returned to Earth expected by 2025. The future of the ISS is still under negotiation after the current cooperation agreements expire. by the end of 2024. According to NASA, from a technical point of view, the ISS can operate until the end of 2028. Of course, the ISS will be upgraded if it wants to last longer, especially electrical and communication systems. .
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