Russia's future space station may have artificial gravity
MOSCOW. Dec 17 (Interfax) - The Technical Board of the Russian Military-Industrial Commission has approved an artificial gravity project for Russia's future space station, Director of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medical Biological Problems Oleg Orlov told Interfax.
"This is the project of Energia Corporation, which has been developed by it as a corporate innovation project until a certain point. A schematic design of this module with a centrifuge inside has been prepared by us together with them and has been discussed on various levels," Orlov said.
The Technical Board of the Russian Military-Industrial Commission has confirmed the need to build the module with the centrifuge, he said.
Energia Rocket and Space Corporation Deputy General Director Vladimir Solovyov said earlier at a meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Council on Space Research that the corporation is predicting "a landslide increase in failures of numerous International Space Station (ISS) elements after 2025."
"A number of elements have already been seriously damaged and have broken down. Many of them are irreplaceable," he said.
"In the opinion of Energia Corporation, the cost of funding [after 2025], which is estimated at approximately 10-15 billion rubles, is too high. It is necessary to reconsider the period of participation in the program and to focus on programs of orbital stations," Solovyov said.
Solovyov said later that Energia had no intention to stop using the station after 2025 and that his speech at the Council meeting was "of informative nature" and did not contain "any proposals regarding further development of the ISS."
Roscosmos said that the Energia Corporation had proposed a project for a new multifunctional orbital station. These projects will be discussed by the Roscosmos Scientific and Technical Council before being submitted to the government.
"The period of ISS operation depends on technical aspects (the technical condition of modules and their expected service life), as well as political aspects discussed with partners. One way or another, we're planning to begin consultations on these issues with NASA and other partners at the beginning of next year," Roscosmos said.
