Roscosmos to decide on configuration of new Russian space station in Q3 2023 - Rogozin

MOSCOW. May 17 (Interfax) - A decision on the configuration of a new Russian space station will be adopted in the third quarter of 2023, Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin said.

"A decision on how a new Russian space station will be structured will be adopted in the third quarter of next year. An option under consideration is whether it will be a completely new station or whether the new station will first be docked to the International Space Station [ISS] and will then be undocked from it," Rogozin said on Telegram.

"Among other factors, it will depend on a joint decision to be made by the Presidium of the Scientific and Technical Council of Roscosmos and the Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which are due to meet on May 26, as was announced earlier," he said.

Roscosmos Executive Director for Piloted Space Programs Sergei Krikalev, in turn, said that a possible algorithm of undocking the Russian segment will be tested on commercial modules.

"Our American partners now propose an option for docking, including the docking of commercial modules and using them as a platform for tests: if everything goes smoothly, it means that a module may function either within the station or undocked," Krikalev said in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper.

"It is important to hear arguments of engineers, technicians, scientists and scientific and technical councils. A final decision will depend on the priorities that we will choose," he said.

As reported earlier, two options for Russia's new space station are being considered - either with the use of the Russian ISS segment or relying solely on new modules.