Russia previews its post-ISS space station
Russia has already provided a look at the space station it will make after it leaves the ISS — if only a brief one. Reutersreports the country’s Roscosmos space agency has shared a model of the future station (pictured above), nicknamed ROSS by state-controlled media. The orbital facility would launch in two phases, starting with four modules and expanding to six with a service platform. The design would accommodate four people in rotating tours and reportedly offer better monitoring of Earth than Russia gets from the ISS today.
You’ll be disappointed if you want more concrete details, however. Roscosmos hasn’t provided dates, and state media claim the first phase will launch sometime between 2025 and 2030. The second would arrive between 2030 and 2035. There could be a long interval between Russia’s touted ISS exit in 2024 and a functional replacement.
Roscosmos announced its departure from the ISS in July in response to the West’s sanctions and other measures following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. If the move goes ahead, it will end two decades of a shared, permanent US-Russia presence aboard the station. Russia will still fulfill its obligations until the 2024 cutoff and even has a …read more
