Today is the second day of the General Meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Anatoly Petrukovich, Director of the Institute of Space Research, shared his thoughts on the future of space science with the Scientific Russia portal. According to him, “the only way to develop while sparing the inhabitants of Earth from the “crushing” impact of human activity is to venture into space. Space science in this sense has a very bright future as it provides us with an understanding of what we should look for in space, how we should behave there, where we should fly, what technical means to design…”

He spoke about this, noting the priorities of world science, the interaction of space science with industry, as well as the prospects of a new Russian orbital station in his video commentary. As Anatoly Petrukovich explained, agreements on ISS are nearing their expiry, thus there has been an “outburst of public discussion” on further options. The creation of Russia’s own orbital station can be useful, among other things, for its ability to fly over regions inaccessible to the ISS, for example, over the Arctic territory.