Moscow-based Energia has submitted proposals to Russia’s Federal Space Agency (FSA) to extend the use of the International Space Station (ISS) to 2030, well beyond its certified life of 2016.
FSA chief Vladimir Perminov says the agency is considering the ISS’s long-term future. “Keeping the ISS operational is a primary objective for Energia,” president and general designer Nikolai Sevastianov told Flight International at last month’s Asian Aerospace in Singapore. “We can raise extra funding by providing payable services to third nations. We can offer [developing countries] time on the ISS for development of their technologies.”
Energia would offer its multipurpose laboratory module, developed jointly with Khrunichev, for commercial research. The module is to be launched to the ISS at the end of 2008.
VLADIMIR KARNOZOV / MOSCOW
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY ROB COPPINGER / LONDON
Source: Flight International
