Russia plans to build a new space station and extend life of ISS

Russian space agency has laid a proposal to the Government for building a new space station and extend the life time of ISS from 2015 to 2020, and if possible use the ISS for future manned missions to mars.

The Russian space agency (Roscosmos) has announced that it will lobby Moscow with a proposal that would see the construction of a new Russian space station in low-Earth orbit. Also, the agency has expressed a desire to extend the operational lifespan of the International Space Station (ISS) until 2020 (the outpost is set for retirement in 2015). Building a Russian space station will aid Russia's desire to kick-start their lunar program, possibly acting as a staging post for future missions to mars

The reason for the lobbying to extend the life span of ISS is,

The ISS is scheduled to be retired in 2015, meaning science on the completed ISS only has a period of five years before it is de-orbited and sent the same way as Mir in 2001 (i.e. down).

Alternative Idea for the future of ISS-

The thought of disposing of the ISS so soon has led to some speculative "alternative uses" for the ISS; one of the most outlandish being the conversion of the ISS into some kind of International Space Ship, retrofitting the station with rockets and sending it to the Moon and/or Mars to act as a manned mothership for planetary activities. Although this excites my science fiction imagination, this possibility seems unlikely (it would be cool though…).

But,

Although this announcement sounds very exciting for Russia, the space agency is beset with financial woes of its own; the idea of embarking on an expensive space station project probably wont be entertained for very long…

If the financial situation doesnt ground this plan, then we can expect an exciting future of space exploration.

Source Link-

Universe Today

Keep your fingers crossed for the best decision.

Are no one interested in this amazing plan?

Pretty cool idea.. only the russians would be able to pull this off - noone else would have the balls.

reply to post by peacejet


Interesting plan, I do not know if it will come to fruition though, especially with the global economic crisis right now. It seems like just yesterday when the ISS went up,lol now it is close to being disintegrated in the atmosphere.

Not going to happen, the russian space program dosent have the funding available.
Nasa paid for the completion of the rusian module, after it was sidelined by fiscal difficulties.
And nasa pays for the russian resupply missions.

reply to post by punkinworks


Sources please.............

I mean you can't expect this site to remain as legit as it is without sourced statements like that can you?