Disaster! The International Space Station Problem..."RUSSIA"
Disaster! The International Space Station Problem..."RUSSIA"
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Disaster! The International Space Station Problem..."RUSSIA"
For the first time in history, Russia no longer has the ability to send crew or cargo to the ISS. Sure, they could technically hire SpaceX to fill the gap, but in the long run, that puts extra pressure on Dragon’s entire logistics chain.
Meanwhile, the aging Roscosmos modules, which make up almost half of the station, have been dealing with serious issues for more than a decade. So without a launch pad, what happens the next time something goes wrong?
Let’s break it down in today’s episode of Alpha Tech.
Disaster! The International Space Station Problem..."RUSSIA"
The International Space Station, a symbol of global cooperation, was originally supposed to be gone by 2016. That was actually part of NASA’s 2009 plan, driven by concerns about structural fatigue caused by orbital temperature cycles and constant dynamic loads. So, why is it still up there today?
NASA’s official explanation is that they want to squeeze as much scientific and technological value out of the ISS as possible. And sure, that’s true, but that’s not the whole story.
The real reason is that technology has advanced so quickly. These days, we see at least two crewed launches to the ISS every year, plus two or three cargo missions. And on every one of those flights, they quietly bring up newer, more advanced hardware to patch, upgrade, or replace aging systems, basically keeping the station alive piece by piece.
Disaster! The International Space Station Problem..."RUSSIA"
In fact, on most cargo flights, something like 20–30% of the payload isn’t science at all, it’s “home repair.” Things like iROSA, the roll-out solar arrays, new CO₂ scrubbers, upgraded oxygen-generation equipment, and even special materials for sealing cracks.
And the second reason? It’s tied directly to the first.
Back in 2010, China officially announced its plan to build the Tiangong space station. Since it was built later, its lifespan will naturally extend far beyond that of the ISS. If the ISS were retired too early, it would leave a vacuum, a monopoly in low Earth orbit, that China could easily step into.
That’s why the partners have been working so hard to keep the ISS alive. Not just for science, but to make sure the world still has a presence up there.
But there’s one thing we can’t avoid: no matter how much we patch it up, the ISS is getting old. And the modules suffering the most are the early Russian-built ones.
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Subcribe Alpha Tech: https://www.youtube.com/@alphatech4966/?sub_confirmation=1
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