What Happens When Russia Leaves The ISS?

The International Space Station is one of our finest pieces of collaborative engineering, but after Russia announced that it will be leaving the space station in 2024, it raised a number of questions. What happens when Russia leaves the ISS? How would Russia's departure affect the ISS program? How would that even be possible? This video looks at what Russia brings to the table and how the ISS would (or wouldn’t) function if they left.

Short on time? No problem. Feel free to skip ahead in this video using the chapter links below.

00:00 What is the International Space Station?
00:48 Russia's Plan to Leave the ISS
01:00 Who is Dmitry Rogozin?
01:31 Who is Yuri Borisov?
02:02 Why is Russia Leaving the ISS?
02:37 What is Radiation Hardening?
03:33 Russia's Role on the International Space Station
04:42 What Happens When Russia Leaves The ISS?
05:46 Will Russia Launch Their Own Space Station?
06:08 Plans for the Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS)
06:59 Will Russia Leave the ISS?

References:

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Music used in this video:

» Nebular Focus - Dan Henig
» No Return - Kevin MacLeod
» Sunrise Drive - South London HiFi
» Lie On The Tracks - Trout Recording
» City By Night - ELPHNT
» February - Middle Mountain

Credits:

#space #internationalspacestation #nasa

[daanvos]

kinda hard to think it has to go, being born in the 21 century ive grown up with the fact the iss is orbiting around earth, it having to go is kinda tragic

[Nehmo]

The cosmonauts spend more time fixing ISS than on experiments. I've had vehicles like that. I'm not joking. Eventually, some breakdown is the killer.

[paulmichaelfreedman]

So they have a dead laptop museum up there. Now that's interesting.

[mstitek]

Well technically, russians will leave ISS after 2024. It is fairly clear that ISS cannot remain up there forever, so sooner or later everyone will have to leave it. It's just that we don't know if it will be in 2028 or even after that. So the only information that statement gives is that they won't leave it before 2024.

[Alucard-gtzf]

It'll be a shame when the iss is no longer operational but I'm glad it's getting replaced by something by both agencies

[Fragolux]

I've always appreciated that, despite our differences on the ground, the US and Russia have maintained a stable working relationship in space. I hope that, come what may, it can somehow endure.

"Our governments are enemies, Dr. Floyd. We are not."
-Dr. Moisevitch, "2010: The Year We Make Contact" (the film is about a joint US-Soviet mission to Jupiter)

[AlexSchendel]

Given that Russia and the US both already have plans for their own space stations after the ISS and will be beginning construction in the next few years with Russia and China likely collaborating while the US collaborates with ESA, CSA, and JAXA, I can't imagine the ISS living beyond the end of the decade. NASA has been treating LOPG as the next-gen space station, succeeding the ISS (even though it will be significantly smaller... Though it will at least be in Lunar orbit lol).

[RuskiBread]

Hopefully Russia and U.S. can work together to build a new, more modern and technologically advanced space station to replace the ISS. Sadly the chances of that happening are extremely slim, with all this hatred for Russia.

[fredMplanenut]

The co-operation of several countries and their expertise has been vital to the success of ISS.

[rrmackay]

Engineers, pilots, technical people, gear heads can work together, its politicians and bureaucrats that can't seem to make it through a career without starting a war.

[daniels]

Amusingly, back during the early-1980's when this all began as the proposed "Freedom" space station, one of the major promises was that it would be a "permanent" space station. That, much like the entire space shuttle program, was overly-optimistic to put it mildly. As were estimates as to the cost, which started out at ~$10B (the final cost is closer to $150B). A large part of why we needed the Russians were the payload limits of the space shuttles and the simple problem that the shuttles were not designed to be kept in orbit for months at a time. Since the U.S. was no longer flying any kind of space capsules, we needed the Russian Soyuz. This was because an on-station escape vehicle would be needed in case astronauts/cosmonauts had to evacuate in a hurry (e.g. as in the case of a collision). Nowadays, we're more used to the idea of technology becoming obsolete very rapidly.

[TamagoHead]

ISS was an icon of hope. Sad to see it go. Dmitry is a good example of how not to appoint a political crony to head Roscosmos.

[Pharisaeus]

There are so many things completely wrong with this video...

1. "America and Russia grew the ISS" and yet most of the modules were build by Europe.
2. There aren't hundreds defunct laptops on the ISS, there would be no reason to keep them up there, especially that volume is limited. They would be brought back on Dragon (eg. for inspection) or put on Progress/Cygnus/HTV to burn up in the atmosphere.
3. It's no true that thrusters on the Russian segment are used so often. In fact they are almost never used, because they have very limited lifespan. What actually happens is that a spacecraft docked to Zvezda (usually Progress but earlier it was also done by European ATV resupply crafts) is firing engines.
4. It's not true that there is no other way of reboosting the station. Since a docked spacecraft like Progress or ATV can do it, why can't another one? It can. Cygnus was even tested for such thing. The only inconvenience is that it requires flipping ISS 180 degrees.
5. The real issue with Russian segment is that it contains other critical components like life support and navigation computers.
6. It's not true that separated Russian segment would have no power. Zarya, Zvezda na Nauka are all complete spacecraft, they have their own power systems, thrusters and attitude control. While attached to the ISS their solar arrays are retracted to avoid any collision risks when docking.

[popeye]

If you look at the ISS altitude graph you see there are minor boosts much more frequently than would be needed by atmospheric drag alone. Many of the boosts are due to orbital adjustments to avoid collisions. Low-earth orbit is getting crowded with both satellites and the space debris their boosters leave behind.

[digitalwebwarrior]

I got interested in Space after I worked at the ISHF in Alamogordo, New Mexico back in the late 70's. I worked with Col. Stapp, the fastest human. While there, I was learning about the futuristic Space Shuttle. How the shuttle was going to change how we saw space travel. This painting reminds me of that time, the optimistic views I had of future space travel. Kinda the same feelings I have now, the future of traveling to Mars.

[andersonklein]

What's sad about that is that it would be cool to get some economies of scale going with a space station big enough to afford luxuries and redundancies like more thrusters and maybe a faraday cage to protect electronics. A huge space station bigger than the ISS would be nice, it's somewhat disappointing all the projects right now are tiny and boring in comparison to something 30 years old.

[davidadelstein]

So glad to "see" the narator is back, just as a suggestion, the funny bits in between don't really go well with the nice posh voice, he gives the videos a different vibe that doesn't match with the comedy...even tho those parts were really funny. :)

[craigsheffield]

My dad was in the Air Force in the 60s and 70s and he taught me about the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. From there on, my interest in space grew, and I continued to study it through my school years, including doing experiments for school contests.

[blingbling]

Can't wait for the new generation of sci-fi movies both A+ and B-grade where the new space station is in lunar orbit and the challenges faced due to the incredibly longer distance from Earth's atmosphere.

[riassslave]

I watched the ISS being put together in segment in science class in junior high, ...if one thing a lot of ppl will shed a tear or two once the station is no more, sure new ones will take its place but no matter how new & tech savvy the new station will be ISS proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that despite political bickering, or what I call "all for show posturing" one thing regardless stays constant & that it is better to do this kind of thing openly with many different countries participating because in the long run we have to all get along, because being tolerant isn't the same thing as being open to another observers' valuable insight and being in a place where your very life could hinge on how you interact in a small contained finite space with finite options available should an emergency arise. I'm amazed it's lasted as long as it has, you know what i mean.