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| Russian Space Agency Shows Off Display Of Its New Space Station |
Moscow - Russia's space agency showed off the appearance of its new orbital station for the first time on Monday (15/8/2022). The exhibition comes after Moscow revealed earlier this year that it plans to leave the International Space Station (ISS) after 2024.
Roscosmos exhibited a model of the Russian Orbital Station (ROS) during the 2022 Armed Forces International Military Technical Forum. According to the agency, the Energia Space Corporation, which is part of Roscosmos, is now developing a sketch of the future space station, with its deployment set to take place in two stages.
"The first phase will involve four modules, namely the science power module, node, core module, and gate," Roscosmos said in a statement. At this stage, the crew will consist of two people.
After this, the crew will be increased to four people. "Among the new features and capabilities of the national station, the developers chose the enormous energy potential for goal-oriented tasks, module unification, possible interaction with next-generation satellite clustering and various modes of operation," Roscosmos said.
In late July, Roscosmos chief Yury Borisov said Russia would withdraw from the ISS after 2024. He added Moscow intends to fulfill its obligations to its foreign partners. He noted at the time that the decision had nothing to do with geopolitics, including the Ukraine conflict.
Later, Sergey Krikalev, executive director for the manned space program at Roscosmos, clarified the timing of the drawdown depends on the technical state of the ISS, and could occur any time after 2024.
Last year, Vladimir Solovyov, a former Soviet cosmonaut and chief designer for spacecraft manufacturer RSC Energia, said Russia would begin construction of its own space station in early 2028.
"This project will be built on top of the Science Power Module 1, which was originally designed for the ISS, but is now being repurposed," Solovyov said at the time. The former head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, predicted the ISS, which NASA plans to operate through 2030, would be "a mess" by then unless "a significant amount of money" was invested in repairs.
The ISS is currently experiencing a number of issues in some areas for various reasons, including outdated modules.