Russia and India agree to orbit their space stations in the same inclination, the same as ISS
India’s Bharatiya Antariksh Station as outlined in 2024.
Click for original image.
According to statements made by Roscosmos head Dmitry Bakanov at a conference in New Delhi this week, Russia and India have agreed to orbit their planned new space stations in the same inclination as ISS, 51.6 degrees, and coordinate their operations at both stations.
By choosing the same orbital geometry for ROS [Russian Orbital Station] and BAS [Bharatiya Antariksh Station], Moscow and New Delhi are effectively planning a continuous “replacement belt” in low Earth orbit. After the ISS is retired, crewed spacecraft launched from Russia and India would still be able to reach a major laboratory complex without radically changing launch trajectories or infrastructure, and—crucially—could, in principle, travel between the two stations with relatively modest maneuvers compared with a full plane-change.
Bakanov’s New Delhi comments build on a broader Roscosmos–ISRO understanding that the two stations should be able to support cross-visits, resource sharing and coordinated operations once both are flying.
This high inclination is required because spacecraft launching from Russia’s high latitudes can’t reach lower inclinations practically. India could put its station at a lower inclination (being at a lower latitude), but if this story is true, it apparently has decided there are advantages using an orbit that will allow cross-missions with Russia, including launches from Russia.
India plans to launch the first module of its station in 2028, and have the entire station operational by 2035. Russia says it will launch is station’s first module by 2027, with full operations beginning by 2030. While both schedules are likely to see delays, we should expect India to get its station built, while Russia will likely struggle to launch even one module.
In fact, I suspect this deal is Russia’s effort to find some partner that can carry it in the future, when its own station gets delayed.
Instead of a picture of the proposed Russian
station, I give you the Roscosmos logo, which
is about as real as any of Russia’s station
proposals.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia’s space program has not been able to accomplish much on its own. First it partnered with the U.S. to save Mir in the 1990s (with the U.S. providing the funding to keep the station afloat(. Next in the late 1990s to the present it partnered with the U.S. and the international partnership building ISS, because without further U.S. funding (we paid for one of their modules and provided other aid), they couldn’t have built their own station.
Then in 2021 Russia signed a partnership deal with China to do work together to build a manned Moon base, except that Russia’s contribution appears so far to be nil (as I predicted at that time), so that China is essentially going it alone.
The new commercial stations being built by four different American companies/consortiums have no interest in partnering with Russia. Neither is China with its Tiangong-3 station. Thus, Russia’s eagerness to work out a partnership of some kind with India.
I predict however that India will end up carrying most of the load of this partnership. At best, India’s station might possibly get some Russian components, in exchange with providing Roscosmos a place to send its astronauts, since its own station will not likely ever get launched. And if it does, it will be one to two decades late.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
India’s Bharatiya Antariksh Station as outlined in 2024.
Click for original image.
According to statements made by Roscosmos head Dmitry Bakanov at a conference in New Delhi this week, Russia and India have agreed to orbit their planned new space stations in the same inclination as ISS, 51.6 degrees, and coordinate their operations at both stations.
By choosing the same orbital geometry for ROS [Russian Orbital Station] and BAS [Bharatiya Antariksh Station], Moscow and New Delhi are effectively planning a continuous “replacement belt” in low Earth orbit. After the ISS is retired, crewed spacecraft launched from Russia and India would still be able to reach a major laboratory complex without radically changing launch trajectories or infrastructure, and—crucially—could, in principle, travel between the two stations with relatively modest maneuvers compared with a full plane-change.
Bakanov’s New Delhi comments build on a broader Roscosmos–ISRO understanding that the two stations should be able to support cross-visits, resource sharing and coordinated operations once both are flying.
This high inclination is required because spacecraft launching from Russia’s high latitudes can’t reach lower inclinations practically. India could put its station at a lower inclination (being at a lower latitude), but if this story is true, it apparently has decided there are advantages using an orbit that will allow cross-missions with Russia, including launches from Russia.
India plans to launch the first module of its station in 2028, and have the entire station operational by 2035. Russia says it will launch is station’s first module by 2027, with full operations beginning by 2030. While both schedules are likely to see delays, we should expect India to get its station built, while Russia will likely struggle to launch even one module.
In fact, I suspect this deal is Russia’s effort to find some partner that can carry it in the future, when its own station gets delayed.
Instead of a picture of the proposed Russian
station, I give you the Roscosmos logo, which
is about as real as any of Russia’s station
proposals.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia’s space program has not been able to accomplish much on its own. First it partnered with the U.S. to save Mir in the 1990s (with the U.S. providing the funding to keep the station afloat(. Next in the late 1990s to the present it partnered with the U.S. and the international partnership building ISS, because without further U.S. funding (we paid for one of their modules and provided other aid), they couldn’t have built their own station.
Then in 2021 Russia signed a partnership deal with China to do work together to build a manned Moon base, except that Russia’s contribution appears so far to be nil (as I predicted at that time), so that China is essentially going it alone.
The new commercial stations being built by four different American companies/consortiums have no interest in partnering with Russia. Neither is China with its Tiangong-3 station. Thus, Russia’s eagerness to work out a partnership of some kind with India.
I predict however that India will end up carrying most of the load of this partnership. At best, India’s station might possibly get some Russian components, in exchange with providing Roscosmos a place to send its astronauts, since its own station will not likely ever get launched. And if it does, it will be one to two decades late.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News