Slashdot Mirror
Russia To Save Its ISS Modules
jamax writes "According to the BBC, 'Russia is making plans to detach and fly away its parts of the International Space Station when the time comes to de-orbit the rest of the outpost. ... To facilitate the plan, RKK Energia, the country's main ISS contractor, has already started developing a special node module for the Russian segment, which will double as the cornerstone of the future station. ... Unlike many Nasa and European space officials, Russian engineers are confident that even after two decades in orbit, their modules would be in good enough shape to form the basis of a new space station. "We flew on Mir for 15 years and accumulated colossal experience in extending the service life (of such a vehicle)," said a senior Russian official at RKK Energia...' Is Russia the last country where engineers are not (yet) forced by corporations to intentionally produce designs that fail two days after warranty expires? There used to be a lot of equipment manufactured by various countries (Germany is the first one that comes to mind) that lasted virtually forever — old cars or weapons systems, but one rarely sees anything of the sort these days."
It's not a willingness to keep it up there - it's a willingness to add to the ongoing stream of Bold Plans and Inspiring Powerpoints that Russia has been creating over the last ten or fifteen years. Exactly none of which have actually gone anywhere, but they do create the image that they are Great Nation and are keeping up with other nations in Boldly Going.
Odds are, there won't even be an attempt.
No, it's just the last country willing to have it's astronauts die in rickety death traps held together by duct tape if it can save money in the process.