Following Pull-out from ISS, Russia Will Design New Orbital Station

Russian space agency Roscosmos has signed a deal worth 2.7 billion rubles with Rocket and Space Corporation (RKK) Energia to develop Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS).

Preliminary design of the national station will be carried out in two stages. The first one involves the analysis of scenarios for the deployment and inclination of the target orbit, the calculation of the cost of delivering 1 kg of cargo to the station, the deployment of the initial configuration of the station and the transition of spacecraft from the ROS orbit to the circumlunar orbit, as per information posted on Roscosmos website.

The second stage includes the development of a draft design and technical specifications for station options, as well as consideration of the possibilities for providing the station with communications, crew training, operation in unmanned and manned modes.

An informed source told Interfax last month that the Russian Federation currently has plans to actively finance the $6 billion project to create an independent orbital station until 2030.

Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roscosmos, said that further continuation of cooperation on the ISS with the U.S. is possible only if sanctions are lifted from the Russian space industry. On April 2, Rogozin announced that Roscosmos would prepare its proposals to the country's leadership on the timing of the termination of Russia's participation in the ISS project, which is likely around 2025.

Rogozin argues that about 80% of the equipment of the Russian segment of the ISS has exhausted its resource and the cost of maintaining it after 2025 will be comparable to the cost of creating a new station.

Russia reportedly plans to quit the ISS project from 2025, transferring responsibility for its segment to station partners. At the same time, it was noted that Russia could continue to support its segment with the financial participation of the United States. An alternative would be the creation of a national orbital station, the first module of which is planned to be launched in 2025 and completed in 2035.

On July 31, the scientific and technical council of Roscosmos approved the creation of a new Russian orbital station.

The completion of the operation of the ISS is scheduled for 2028, by which time Roscosmos should launch a new Russian orbital station.

On September 21, the Scientific and Technical Council of Roscosmos and the Space Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences approved the concept of the new station and recommended that it be submitted to the Russian government.

Russia will be able to finance the construction of a new orbital station itself, but is also ready for cooperation, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov said on April 19, noting that the station could be "a kind of intermediate point for flights and exploration of the Moon, lunar space."