New space station to fly over the poles | Polarjournal
Mir was a manned space station built by the Soviet Union that orbited the Earth from 1986 until its controlled crash in 2001. After the Mir was used in the first years only by the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc states connected with it, there were also cooperations with other states. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian space agency Roscosmos continued to operate the space station and continued the successful international cooperation, also with Western countries and their space agencies. The Mir space station was the largest artificial object in Earth orbit at its time and is considered one of the greatest successes of Soviet and Russian space travel. (Photo: Roscosmos)

The new Russian space station is to be deployed in an orbit that will allow observation of the entire surface of the Earth, especially the Arctic. The relevant documents were submitted by the space company “RSC Energia” to the Space Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The construction of a new space station is being prioritised as the maintenance costs of the current ISS space station could get out of hands.

The International Space Station (ISS ) is currently the only space station. Initially planned as a military station by the USA, it has been operated and further developed in international cooperation by 16 states and 5 space agencies since its construction had started in 1998. It is the largest satellite in Earth orbit and the largest man-made object in space. The ISS orbits at an altitude of about 400 km with an orbital inclination of 51.6° in an easterly direction once around the Earth in about 93 minutes. Since 2 November 2000, the ISS has been permanently inhabited by people. (Foto: NASA)

ISS seems to be at the end

A number of elements of the ISS are damaged and failures will increase from 2025 onwards. Therefore, it makes sense to focus on the creation of a national station, said Vladimir Solovyov, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and first deputy director general of “RSC Energia”.

Excerpts from his speech at the meeting of the RAS Space Council were published on the portal Scientific Russia, organized under the auspices of the Academy of Sciences.

“By 2025, Russia is obliged to participate in the ISS program. There are already a number of elements that are severely damaged and out of service. Many of them can no longer be replaced. After 2025, we forecast failures of numerous elements on board the ISS.” the top manager said.

“It is necessary to reconsider the timing of further participation in the program and focus on the implementation of the national orbital stations of the program” believes Soloviev. Therefore, the “RSC Energia” proposes the development of a Russian space station.

Angara-A5 is the most powerful version of a missile series of different power. The versions differ in the number of standardized boosters. The rocket will be used to launch the modules for the new space station into space. (Photo: Roscosmos)

The new Russian space station is to fly over the poles

Two types of orbital inclinations are possible for a new space station – 72 and 98 degrees, with the second option being proposed for the first time. This is reported by the agency RIA Novosti. An inclination of 72 degrees would make it possible to observe the Earth’s surface up to a latitude of about 80 degrees, which would also apply to the Northern Sea Route. At 98 degrees, a comprehensive view of the Earth will be possible, the researchers said.

As Russian space expert Andrei Ionin of the Tsiolkovsky Academy of Cosmonautics explained to RIA Novosti, at the inclination of 98 degrees the polar regions would be fully visible.

Vladimir Soloviev “This will be a global hype. No one has ever launched stations considering such inclinations. Such orbits are necessary to observe the Earth. They are practical because the Sun is constantly at a certain angle – this is called a Sun-synchronous orbit – and the equipment for taking pictures only needs to be adjusted once,” the scientist said.

In October, the first deputy chief designer of “RSC Energiya”, Vladimir Solovyov, reported that the design of the new space station will be similar to that of the orbital station “Mir”. It will consist of at least five modules, including a commercial module for four space tourists. There will also be two large portholes and WLAN.

It is planned to launch the modules into orbit from the Plessezk or Vostochny cosmodromes using the “Angara-A5” launch vehicles. (Graphic: Heiner Kubny)

The modules themselves will be based on the planned science-energy module of the ISS. In addition, it is planned to regularly dock a free-flying module designed as a production laboratory to the station, which is to be launched from Plessezk or Vostochny by a “Soyuz-2.1b” rocket.

The head of the Russian space agency Roskosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, announced that Russia would build a new near-Earth orbital station after 2030.

Heiner Kubny, PolarJournal

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