Russia has received unprecedented Western sanctions over its military operations in Ukraine. Already, the country has taken the initiative of adopting various plans including the use of its own currency in transactions. Following this, on July 26, the country announced its withdrawal from the International Space Station. BBC news.
Russia says it will end its operations from the International Space Station after 2024. Also, it will conduct space research alone by building its own International Space Station.
The International Space Station is currently operated by a consortium of five space research agencies, the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan and the European Space Agency.
Since 1998, Russia and the United States have jointly operated the International Space Station. However, analysts believe that Russia is going to take such a decision because of the recent US blockade on Russia based on the Ukraine war. However, Russia’s Roscosmos has not yet officially informed NASA about this.
Five organizations are contracted to jointly operate the International Space Station until 2024. But the US collectively wants to operate the station for another six years. But after Russia announced its withdrawal in 2024, there was a setback.
The problem is that the agencies are deeply dependent on each other to operate the space station. The United States provides power and fuel for the station, while Russia keeps the station operational and safe. If Russia withdraws now, the station’s operations will be disrupted. However, NASA claims that their special robot will be able to do the work of floating the station in orbit.
According to the agreement, the data obtained from research on the space station is shared by the agencies with each other. Now if one goes towards operating the space station alone, the possibility of doing secret and risky research will increase.
Russia has said it will start building a space station of its own. It is a matter of concern now.