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The Russian space agency Roscosmos revealed, for the first time, the first images of the prototype of the russia space station built by the country itself, suggesting that Moscow is serious about abandoning International Space Station (ISS) and follow alone towards Earth orbit. The announcement was made during the military-industrial exhibition army 2022, held last Monday (15), in the capital Moscow. 131w1w
What will Russia's new space station look like? f5i5o
According to Reuters, the future space station, dubbed “Ross” by Russian state media, it will be launched in two stages: the first will be dedicated to the beginning of the operation of the complex, with four modules in a pressurized space of 228 m³, with 19 m³ for scientific equipment; and the second will incorporate two other modules, increasing the total space to 667 m³ and implementing a service platform. When ready, the station will be able to house scientific equipment and up to four crew .
The Russian space agency did not provide further details regarding the launch dates, but the country's state media suggested that the first phase could be launched between 2025 and 2026, while the second should be launched between 2030 and 2035. In the current project, the station should not have a permanent human presence like the International Space Station, but would receive crew twice a year, for extended periods.
A Roscosmos (Russian space agency) promises that the new station will provide Russian cosmonauts with a much broader view of Earth for monitoring purposes than they enjoy in their current segment. While designs already exist for some of the new stations, design work is ongoing in other segments.
Russia's departure from the ISS 5622t
The new head of Russia's space agency, Yuri Borisov, announced in July that Russia will leave the International Space Station after its current commitment expires at the end of 2024.. “The decision to leave the station after 2024 has been made”, said Borisov at the time, recently appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin to manage Roscosmos.
The move stems from the tension created between the Russian country and other nations on of the sanctions imposed by the military conflict with Ukraine. In this sense, Russia began to cut its ties with the West and establish new technological partnerships with countries such as Iran and China. The Russian goal is to become less and less dependent on other nations, such as the United States.
So far, however, Russia has not communicated to NASA its intention to withdraw from the International Space Station in 2024, a senior US agency official told Reuters. According to the US spokesman, the withdrawal request needs to be officially communicated to the agency as required by the station's intergovernmental agreement. “We have not received anything official so far. We literally just got this too, but not officially.”, says NASA space station director Robyn Gatens.
A symbol of international scientific and peaceful collaboration, the ISS was launched in 1998, and has been continuously occupied since November 2000 by astronauts from different countries thanks to a partnership led by the United States and Russia, together with Canada, Japan and 11 other European countries. . THE NASA plans to maintain station operations until 2030, to then begin a transition to commercial space stations.
New chapter in Russian space history 415r7
Despite the possible arrival of a new Russian space station, this is not the first time that Russia has ventured to “install” a complex in space. For ten years, between 1986 and 1996, the country mounted its first space station, called Mir, in orbit. Until March 21, 2001 it was the largest satellite in orbit, succeeded by the International Space Station (ISS) after its orbit declined.
Mir served as a microgravity research laboratory and was also the stage for several experiments in areas such as biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology, among others. It was also the first continuously inhabited research station in orbit and set the record for the longest continuous human presence in space at 3.644 days. The record was broken only in October 2010, when it was sured by the International Space Station.
Launched as part of the Soviet manned spaceflight program to maintain a long-term research outpost, the station consisted of seven pressurized modules and several non-pressure components. Power was supplied by photovoltaic s connected directly to the modules.
The station was maintained in an orbit between 296 km and 421 km in altitude and traveled at an average speed of 27,700 km per hour, completing 15,7 orbits per day. Its history ended in 2001, after its orbit declined.
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NASA plans to retire the International Space Stationl, providing space for private sector commercial operations. Understand.
