The future of the $100 billion complex that is the International Space Station (the ISS) is uncertain now, after the US chose to transfer tensions from the crisis in Ukraine to the space sector.

NASA announced in early April that it would cease almost all cooperation with Russian counterpart Roscosmos (Russia's NASA) in protest against Russia's posture regarding Crimea and Ukraine. At that time, NASA said it would continue cooperation regarding the ISS, which is pursuing a wide variety of experimental and exploratory programs.

But Russia has now reacted to the American snub by raising the prospect of pulling out of the ISS as of 2020, when its currently contracted participation expires. Because Russia and the US are the core component providers and controllers of the ISS, Russian withdrawal would pose daunting challenges to the US if it wished to continue with the project.

There was never any guarantee that Russia was going to participate beyond 2020, so the US and other nations involved in the ISS (15 have sent astronauts since the ISS went into orbit in 2000) have programs in place to provide much of the equipment and services now coming from Russia.

Given appropriate funding, NASA could coordinate an effort to proceed without Russia after 2020. But the willingness of Congress to provide such support cannot be guaranteed.

For discussion of the ISS and the possible routes forward for space research, Radio VR's David Kerans spoke with John Logsdon, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University, and founder of the Elliott School's Space Policy Institute.

Logsdon expressed his confidence that the US could produce or procure substitutes for all of Russia's contributions to the ISS, given the necessary will from Washington. And he is confident that space exploration will proceed at a healthy pace, thanks to the determination China has shown to be a world leader in this sector since about 1992.

Source: Voice of Russia