Russian space chief says country will fly on space station until 2030

In a wide-ranging interview with a Russian television station, the chief executive of Russia's main space corporation said the country is now planning to participate in the International Space Station project all the way to NASA's desired goal of 2030. "In coordination with our American colleagues, we plan to de-orbit the station sometime around the beginning of 2030," the country's chief space official, Yuri Borisov, said during the interview. "The final scenario will probably be specified after the transition to a new NASA administration." While the documents for such an extension have not been signed, these comments appear to represent a change in tone from Russia. When he first became head of Roscosmos in 2022, Borisov said Russia would leave the station partnership "after" 2024, which was interpreted as shortly thereafter. Later, Russia committed to working with NASA to keep the orbital outpost flying only through 2028. The US space agency has expressed a consistent desire to keep flying the station until 2030, after which point it hopes that private space station operators can provide one or more replacement facilities. Borisov said the aging station, elements of which have now been in space for more than a quarter of a century, are becoming difficult to maintain. "Today our cosmonauts have to spend more time repairing equipment and less and less time conducting experiments," he said.

A revealing interview

The RBC TV interview was translated from Russian into English for Ars by Rob Mitchell. In it, Borisov reveals himself to be a much more measured personality than the previous leader of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, who had a pugnacious personality. Borisov gave responsive answers rather than defensive ones to some difficult questions about the fading status of the Russian space program. He is complimentary of NASA, and of competitors such as SpaceX. "We opened space to the world," Borisov said, referring to the Soviet Union's launch of the first satellite, Sputnik. "We made the first steps there, and we bear historical responsibility. In my opinion, every Russian has at the genetic level formed a certain justified pride for our past achievements. This today becomes a great obligation for us." In response to a question about recent failures of some Russian space vehicles, including a problem with leaky coolant systems on spacecraft, Borisov noted that even SpaceX has experienced multiple failures in the past. "Space is an area of activity where there is never a 100 percent guaranteed result, and failures hound everyone," he said. "I literally just finished reading a very interesting volume, the history of the formation of Elon Musk’s company SpaceX. His Falcon 1 had three failures. He had practically put everything he had on launch four, which, thank God, was successful, and opened the road for him. It was a very close-run thing—it was possible to lose the whole business. There are no 100 percent guarantees." Borisov also discussed the challenges of getting private investment in spaceflight activities as has occurred in the United States and, to a lesser extent, in China, Europe, and India.

A Russian Starlink

"In the West, particularly in America, 70 percent of space services are provided by satellite constellations created by private companies," he said. "This process has only just begun with us. This is a very risky business for potential investors." The Russian government is seeking to stimulate private investment in space by offering a guaranteed demand for services and forward contracts. Although Borisov did not directly address Russia's costly war in Ukraine, he referred to it obliquely as one challenge to raising private money for space investments. "Right now, the dynamic growth of private space is being influenced by the general economic situation, high inflation and interest rates, which leads to expensive money for private investors," he said. "We can hope that this will be a temporary period and more favorable times will come soon." An area in which Russia is most interested to see private companies step up is in the development of a counterpart to the Starlink Internet constellation developed by SpaceX over the last decade. A private company named Bureau 1440 (that is the number of orbits completed by the Sputnik satellite) has indicated its intentions to design and develop a similar service, and Borisov is seeking others that will become serious entrants in the market. He added that Russians will be able to log into an analog of Starlink by 2030, "guaranteed." One project that is not moving forward is Russia's often discussed plans to build a super-heavy lift rocket. "Exploration of deep space, conducting scientific experiments and flying to distant planets without a super heavy booster is not possible," Borisov said. However, the current budget for Roscosmos does not include plans to build such a large rocket. That could change in 2026, but Borisov does not sound optimistic. "It’s not going to happen soon," he said. "It's an expensive undertaking."