MOSCOW, Mar 10 The amount of money allocated by NASA for deorbiting the ISS indicates that the Americans are still counting on Russia's participation in this process, even if they say otherwise, a Russian expert said in field of cosmonautics Andrey Ionin.
Earlier, the White House released NASA's 2024 budget. The document provides for the allocation of $ 180 million for the development of a new apparatus for the possibility of safe arching of the ISS from orbit without the participation of the Russian Federation.
«I think that they just started financing the mixing program as a whole. For some reason, we just think that it's like without Russia. But there will still be costs from both sides. Yes, Russia will participate in the mixing, of course, since «We have such experience. The Progress ships will be used for this. But all the same, the Americans will also pay for it,» Ionin said.
He clarified that since the station is shared, it goes without saying that the costs of such operations will be divided among its participants. At the same time, there are only about 20% of Russian nodes in the ISS, and the rest is the contribution of the United States, Ionin recalled.
According to him, 180 million dollars is «obviously not enough» for any serious studies, especially for the creation of a new ship.
«By American standards, 180 million dollars is nothing at all. It's like pocket money,» the expert explained.
Earlier, Director General of Roskosmos Yuri Borisov reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the decision to withdraw from the ISS project after 2024, the exact date will be determined based on the technical condition of the station. Later, he said that Russia would most likely participate in the project until 2028. Now the decision to extend the ISS until 2030 was made by the United States and Japan, the European Space Agency also supported this initiative.
So far, the scientific and technical council of Roscosmos has approved the decision to extend the operation of the Russian segment of the International Space Station until 2028.