On November 17, on Monday, the media disseminated information that Russia could acquire its own orbital station in the near future. The relevant material was presented by the Kommersant newspaper, which referred to its own sources. Talks about building its own space station arose against the backdrop of a deteriorating international situation and Russia's planned withdrawal from the ISS project after 2020. However, the information that Russia could start deploying its own orbital station as early as 2017 turned out to be “greatly exaggerated”. On the same day, this information was denied by representatives of Roscosmos, who gave comments to Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Interfax and VGTRK.
Dreams of the station
"Kommersant" in its article "Russian-centric orbit" noted that as early as 2017, our country may begin a program to deploy its own orbital station. Curiously, the publication referred to its own sources in Roscosmos. The article was about the fact that the project of a new high-latitude station was developed by scientific organizations of the Federal Space Agency. At the same time, it was planned to abandon the development of the domestic segment of the ISS, while fulfilling obligations to the rest of the participants in this project until 2020. Some of the modules that were previously created for the ISS were planned to be redirected to the creation of a new national station.
Kommersant, citing its sources close to the leadership of the Central Scientific Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering (the leading scientific enterprise of the industry), reported that the launch of a domestic high-latitude orbital station into near-earth orbit would be one of the key proposals for the project for the development of Russian manned space exploration for the period up to 2050 of the year. This document is going to be presented by a joint group of Roscosmos and scientific organizations involved in the project. The publication noted that the Russian station should be deployed between 2017 and 2019. However, despite this, there are no talks about the early curtailment of work within the framework of the ISS project. Russia intends to firmly fulfill all its international obligations until 2020.
In May 2014, against the backdrop of cooling relations between Washington and Moscow and the introduction of economic sanctions, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the defense industry (and the space industry as well), noted that the Russian Federation is not going to extend the operation of the station until 2024, as the United States plans to do. At the same time, the released funds could be used for other Russian space projects. Rogozin noted that more than 30% of the Roscosmos budget goes to the ISS. Later, in early November 2014, Oleg Ostapenko, the head of Roscosmos, told Charles Bolden to the head of NASA that the final decision on whether or not to extend the operation of the ISS until 2024 would be made in Russia by the end of 2014.
The sources of Kommersant explained the logic behind the creation of the national orbital station by a number of factors. In particular, the launches of Soyuz-MS manned spacecraft from the new Vostochny cosmodrome at an inclination of 51.6 degrees (this is the inclination of the ISS) are associated with a significant risk for the crews during the launch phase. In the event of an abnormal situation on board, the astronauts may find themselves in the open sea. At the same time, the inclination of the Russian orbital station should be 64.8 degrees, and during the launching phase the flight path will pass over land. In addition, the parameters of the location of the Russian orbital station will make it possible to deliver cargo to it using rockets launched into space from the Plesetsk military cosmodrome.
Accordingly, the Russian Federation will receive full access to civil space from 2 sites at once, which should eliminate potential political risks when using the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Also, a source from Kommersant noted that the location of the new Russian station would be more profitable, which would make it possible to implement an expanded sector of the earth's surface. Up to 90% of the territory of our country and the Arctic shelf could be seen from the station, while for the ISS this figure does not exceed 5%, the source said.
To create and equip the new station, it is planned to use vehicles and modules that were previously intended for use on the ISS. A source from Kommersant said that the initial configuration of the new station would be based on the OKA-T spacecraft, nodal and multipurpose laboratory modules. The successful operation of the station will have to be ensured by the Progress-MS and Soyuz-MS spacecraft, and in the period from 2020 to 2024, it is possible to develop the transformable and power modules that are used in the lunar program. One of the functions of the new orbital station was to be flight design tests of manned lunar infrastructure facilities. The interlocutor of the publication spoke about the formation of a certain bridgehead - initially the devices will get to the station, and from there they will go to the moon.
There was no question of the price of the issue. At the initial stage of implementation, it was planned to use vehicles and modules that were created for the domestic segment of the ISS, which would not entail additional cash costs. At the same time, Russia has been participating in the ISS program since 1998. Today, Roskosmos spends 6 times less on maintaining the station than NASA (in 2013, the United States allocated about $ 3 billion for this purpose), while the Russian Federation owns the right to 1/2 of the station's crew.
Before joining the ISS project, Russia had been operating the Mir orbital station for many years, which was de-orbited only in 2001. One of the reasons for the flooding of the station in the Pacific Ocean was called the high cost of its operation - about $ 200 million a year. At the same time, the former head of the Russian Aerospace Agency, Yuri Koptev, admitted in 2011 that there was no reason to continue operating the Mir station. The reason was the catastrophic state of the station, there were even such critical moments when control over the station during the correction of its orbit simply disappeared.
Denial of Roscosmos
Roskosmos quickly denied the information provided. This was reported by the leading state channels - VGTRK and RT, as well as the Interfax agency.
A source in Roskosmos told Interfax journalists that the project of the Federal Space Program does not provide for the deployment of a new orbital station in 2017-2019. Currently, the implementation of such a project is simply impossible. The interlocutor of the agency emphasized the fact that the project of the Russian orbital station is not realizable either financially or technically.
ISS
At the same time, a source in Roskosmos told reporters that some orbital modules, which are planned to be launched into space in 2017-2019, are intended to build up the Russian segment of the ISS. The Roscosmos management has repeatedly said that it is interested in extending the ISS operation until at least 2020. At the same time, the costs for these needs have already been included in the budget of Roscosmos. At the same time, work on a project for a separate Russian space station will require the allocation of much more money. The interlocutor of the agency stressed that he does not believe that the funds will be allocated in the current tense financial situation. He called this development of events unlikely.
He also noted that the information that appeared in the Russian media about the development of a national orbital station would be technically difficult to put into practice in a timely manner. For example, the MLM mentioned in the press - the multifunctional laboratory module Nauka with a launch mass of 20.3 tons - was supposed to become part of the Russian segment of the ISS back in 2007, but this module still remains on the ground. So in 2014, its launch was once again postponed. Its new launch date is the first quarter of 2017.
In addition, the interlocutor of the Interfax news agency noted that the characteristics of the future domestic high-latitude orbital station given in the media are incorrect, if possible, when monitoring the territory of our country. The ISS orbits the Earth 6 times per day, with an inclination of approximately 51.8 degrees. Every more or less knowledgeable person will understand that in this position, from the station, you can observe most of the territory of the Russian Federation. In addition, it is much easier and more convenient to solve possible tasks for conducting Earth sensing with the help of devices specially created for these purposes, including small ones. It is at least irrational to use a station weighing tens of tons for the same purposes.
Mir station on September 24, 1996
Soviet and Russian orbital stations
The Soviet and Russian history of the use of orbital stations is quite rich. Only in the USSR were two programs for their construction being implemented - the military "Almaz" and the civilian "Salute". In total, 7 Salyut stations were successfully launched into earth orbit. Three of these stations (Salyut-2, 3 and 5) were created within the framework of the military program of the OPS - the Almaz manned orbital stations. The first in the world civilian long-term orbital station (DOS) "Salyut" the Soviet Union put into Earth orbit on April 19, 1971. This station successfully operated in orbit for 175 days. During this time, two expeditions were sent to the station, while the second of them ended in tragedy. The station crew died during the landing due to the depressurization of the lander.
In 1972, the Soviet Union tried to put the second DOS into Earth orbit, but its launch ended in failure, the station was lost. On April 3, 1973, the Salyut-2 OPS was launched into orbit, which completed its work in 54 days due to the onset of depressurization. Problems were also observed at other Soviet stations. In particular, due to a malfunction in the rendezvous system, Salyut-3 and Soyuz-15, whose crews returned to Earth, could not dock with each other.
DOS "Salyut-6" and "Salyut-7" belonged to the second generation of orbital stations, they were launched into orbit in 1977 and 1982, respectively. These stations had 2 docking stations each, which provided the ability to supply and refuel the station using cargo ships. The first station spent 4 years and 10 months in earth orbit, and the second 8 years and 10 months.
In 1986, the USSR was unable to launch the unmanned station "Almaz-T", which was created in the interests of the Ministry of Defense, into orbit; the accident of the launch vehicle prevented it. From 1987 to 1989, an automatic military radar station called "Cosmos-1870" operated in space. In addition, on March 31, 1991, the Almaz-1A station was launched, which spent much less than the planned time in earth orbit (5 and a half months instead of 30). The reason for this was the increased fuel consumption.
On February 19, 1986, the world's first multi-module orbital station, the famous Mir station, was launched into earth orbit. This station has existed in space for over 15 years. During this time, 104 people managed to visit her on board. At the same time, the Mir station was able to survive a number of emergencies, including a fire on board and a collision with the Progress-M34 spacecraft that occurred in 1997. The station was sunk on March 23, 2001 in the Pacific Ocean. This project was replaced by the International Space Station. Already on November 20, 1998, our country launched the first element of the ISS - the Zarya functional cargo block. At the moment, the Russian segment of the station already has 5 modules: in addition to Zarya, this is the Constellation service module, the Pirs docking bay, the Poisk small research module and the Rassvet small research module.
