Moscow is serious about abandoning the International Space Station (ISS), Roscosmos unveiled for the first time a physical model of what a planned new Russian-built space station will look like.Rushing to reduce its dependency on Western nations, Russia is forging ahead on its own or cooperating with countries like China and Iran.

Figure 1: A physical model of new Russian-built space station.

Figure 1 shows that,the new space station would be launched in two phases. according to Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov, the first phase would see a four-module space station start operating, the second phase would include two modules and a service platform. [1]

Yuri Borisov, whom President Vladimir Putin appointed last month to head Roscosmos, has said Russia will quit the ISS after 2024 and is working to develop its own orbital station.

Launched in 1998, the ISS has been continuously occupied since November 2000 under a US-Russian-led partnership that also includes Canada, Japan and 11 European countries.

Nasa, which wants to keep the ISS operating until 2030, says it has not yet received official confirmation of Russia’s planned withdrawal and had previously understood that Moscow would continue to participate until 2028.Roscosmos said its space station would be launched in two phases, without giving dates.

For the first phase a four-module space station would start operating. That would be followed by two more modules and a service platform, it said. That would be enough, when completed, to accommodate up to four cosmonauts and scientific equipment. [2]

Roscosmos presented a model of the planned space station, dubbed "ROSS" at "Army-2022", a military-industrial exhibition outside Moscow.

The team sprayed a thin layer of a material called a photonic glass onto the surfaces of solar cells. The glass was made of a thin, disorderly layer of dielectric microscopic zinc sulfide spheres. Although most light could pass through the photonic glass, selective colors were reflected back based on the sizes of the spheres. Using this approach, the researchers created solar panels that took on blue, green and purple hues while only dropping the efficiency of power generation from 22.6% to 21.5%.

Roscosmos has said the new station would afford Russian cosmonauts a much wider view of the Earth for monitoring purposes than they enjoy in their current segment. Reports indicate that the Russian station, unlike the ISS will not have a permanent human presence and that it would be staffed twice a year for extended periods. [3]

References:

1. https://www.wionews.com/science/roscosmos-unveils-model-of-new-space-station-after-announcing-departure-from-international-space-station-507347
2. https://www.indiatoday.in/science/story/russia-unveil-models-of-its-new-space-station-ross-roscosmos-nasa-iss-1988459-2022-08-16
3. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/15/russia-unveils-model-space-station-iss-roscosmos-agency

Cite this article:

Sri Vasagi K (2022), Roscosmos Unveils Model of New Space Station – Russia, Anatechmaz, pp. 395