INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

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Context

Russia will pull out of the International Space Station after 2024 and focus on building its own orbiting outpost,.

About ISS

The International Space Station (ISS) is a modular space station (habitable artificial satellite) in low Earth orbit.
The ISS was launched in 1998 as part of joint efforts by the U.S., Russia, Japan, Canada and Europe.
Since its inception, the ISS has served as a laboratory suspended in space and has aided multiple scientific and technological developments.

Why is NASA planning to decommission the ISS?

The ISS was originally built to operate for 15 years.
The space station has already surpassed that checkpoint by being active for 21 years, with plans to continue operations till 2030.
The limitations on the life-cycle of the station are catching up. The ISS goes through 16 rotations of the earth per day, causing extreme temperature changes on the exterior.
The side facing the sun can get heated up to 121°C while the temperature on the opposite, darker side can fall to –157°C, causing intense expansion and contraction of the building material.
This orbital thermal cycling, coupled with dynamic loading, affects the longevity of the primary structure of the space station.

Future of space stations

In January 2022, China announced that its space station will be ready for operations this year.
Blue Origin, the aerospace company founded by Jeff Bezos, has also announced its plans to build Orbital Reef, a commercially developed, owned, and operated space station in low-earth orbit.
And now Russia announced, to build its own orbiting outpost.

Read: https://www.iasgyan.in/blogs/types-of-orbits-explained