Roscosmos approves design of Russia’s proposed new space station
According to TASS, Russia’s state-run press, its space agency Roscosmos has now approved the design of its proposed new Russian Orbital Station (ROS), with a targeted launch date sometime between 2027 and 2032.
The station’s core module will have six docking ports for accommodating add-on modules. Each of the station’s modules will be replaceable, if necessary, so the ROS’s service life is likely to last decades.
The station will stay in a polar orbit with an inclination of up to 97 degrees.
That last feature will make this station unique, as all other previous and planned manned space stations use orbits relatively close to the equator so they never fly over the poles. ROS’s orbit will allow it to see almost the entire Earth surface, including all of Russia.
Despite the fact that this design is essentially the same as the Mir station the Soviet Union launched in 1986 and operated until the late 1990s, do not expect this new station to launch on schedule. Based on Russia’s track record since the fall of the Soviet Union, expect many delays that will stretch development into decades. If its first module launches before 2032 I will be amazed.
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According to TASS, Russia’s state-run press, its space agency Roscosmos has now approved the design of its proposed new Russian Orbital Station (ROS), with a targeted launch date sometime between 2027 and 2032.
The station’s core module will have six docking ports for accommodating add-on modules. Each of the station’s modules will be replaceable, if necessary, so the ROS’s service life is likely to last decades.
The station will stay in a polar orbit with an inclination of up to 97 degrees.
That last feature will make this station unique, as all other previous and planned manned space stations use orbits relatively close to the equator so they never fly over the poles. ROS’s orbit will allow it to see almost the entire Earth surface, including all of Russia.
Despite the fact that this design is essentially the same as the Mir station the Soviet Union launched in 1986 and operated until the late 1990s, do not expect this new station to launch on schedule. Based on Russia’s track record since the fall of the Soviet Union, expect many delays that will stretch development into decades. If its first module launches before 2032 I will be amazed.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
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Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
The 97 degree orbit is interesting as it means they will not be able to take Nauka, the UM modules and base the station off them as they had previously planned. Those two modules can act as a station by itself and grow.
Seems unlikely based on past experience.
I wonder if they are acknowledging that the existing ISS modules are not firm foundations for a new station after decades of stress and it is better to build new?
@digital night: The Nakua and UM modules are only recently launched. However Nakua was first manufactured in the 90’s and say around getting ready and ready and ready for launch for almost 25-30 years. So maybe not stress but surely age.
And let’s not forget that Nauka did try to spin the ISS like a top when it docked. Not the core module I’d want for a space station.
Additionally, it would require a great deal of propellant to change Nauka’s orbit to meet those 97 degrees. That’s not even something I’d try in KSP.
At 97º, they may be going for a sun-synchronous orbit.