Sooner or later Russia will abandon the International Space Station ISS and build its own space station.
Russia’s Future Orbital Station
In April 2021, there was an event that at first received little attention, but which will define the development of Russia’s manned space industry for many years to come. Russia suddenly announced its firm intention to have a “country” orbital station.
This station will become a replacement vehicle for the ISS, thereby becoming a conditional successor to the Soviet “Mir” station and named “Russian Orbital Service Station” (abbreviated as ROSS). ).It is true that the Russian ISS is in bad condition. Air leaks and breakdowns of the SKV-2 air conditioning system in the “Zvezda” module eloquently speak for the actual situation. And in the recent “Constant” experiment the scientific instruments suddenly smoked, fortunately, no one was injured.
What will the new station look like? In short – it will be something like “Mir” station. The orbital altitude of the station will be between 300 and 350km. According to data from open sources, at an early stage, ROSS will include several modules: A science and energy module; Modified focal module “Pritral”; base module and gateway module.
The first phase is estimated around 2030. The second phase (2030-2035) involves the launch of several more modules, namely the target module, the target production module and the spacecraft service platform. . The main component of the future station will be the science and energy module (NEM). Its important mission is to become the control center of the station, as well as support the life and health of the astronauts. Initially, it was wanted to send NEM to the ISS by 2025. Now this product will have to be slightly modified for the new station.
NEM module is quite large, its weight will be a little more than 20 tons. The volume of the closed compartment of the module is 92m³. For comparison, the sealed volume of the Zvezda module is 89.3 m³.
NEM has one important feature: It has only one connector. The rear of the module is occupied by the unsealed part, where the solar panels are located. Therefore, the station will only really work after connecting to the hub module.
It is assumed that the focal module will receive six connections that can be used for a variety of purposes. The central hub module will allow to replace any other module as needed. This is important, because different situations can arise, including those that require immediate and decisive action. Ships and Missiles
In Russia recently often talk about new rockets and spacecraft. Therefore, the country continues to work on the super-heavy missile “Yenisei”, which is the most powerful missile available. In addition, Russia is actively working on a new manned spacecraft, known to many as “Eagle” or “Federation”, as well as its smaller version “Eaglet”.
At the same time, even the available technical means must be sufficient to carry out the plan. The station’s modules can be launched by the new heavy rocket “Angara-A5”, capable of sending nearly 25 tons into a low reference orbit.
In the future, its more powerful versions, “Angara-A5M” will have a lifting capacity of 25-38 tons. Astronauts can be transported to the station by the “Soyuz MS” spacecraft, which, although obsolete, continues to be a reliable means of transport.
