Russia will work aboard International Space Station till 2024: Roscosmos chief Rogozin

Russia will continue to cooperate aboard the International Space Station (ISS) till 2024, confirmed the country's space agency Roscosmos' chief Dmitry Rogozin. This statement comes a month after Rogozin had announced that Russia will no longer cooperate with international partners in managing the ISS in retaliation to the Western sanctions over its Ukraine invasion.

In an interview with Rossiya 24 television, Rogozin said that the space station will work "exactly as long as" Russia wants it to although he underscored that the orbital outpost is operating far beyond its lifespan. "We have a government decision that we are working until 2024", the Roscosmos Director-General had said. 

Roscosmos details Russia's own orbital station

Besides confirming the timeline of Russia's cooperation aboard the ISS, Rogozin revealed that Roscosmos has reached a decision on the orbital inclination and architecture for the Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS). He said that Roscosmos, along with the Academy of Sciences, has already reviewed the "main architectural contours" on ROSS to gain information about the station's installation. "In principle, we understand what it will consist of and the procedure for launching the main modules into orbit. Our minds are already living in that future", Rogozin said as per Russian news agency TASS.

Notably, the Russians are considering installing ROSS in two potential orbits. The first is the same orbit where the International Space Station is currently installed, approximately 400 kilometres above Earth, or in a higher orbit. If it is the first, the current Russian segment will separate from the ISS to join the ROSS module, TASS reported. Rogozin had earlier revealed that the new station will work autonomously and will support long-term astronaut expeditions. 

The new Russian space station is being developed by Roscosmos-owned Khrunichev Center in collaboration with the Energia Space Rocket Corporation. The latter has been asked to develop the first basic module for the station which is planned for launch in 2025. It is also worth mentioning that Roscosmos would contribute to the development of another space station-- the one planned around the Moon by China. This was decided under an agreement that was signed between Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin and China National Space Administration (CNSA) head Zhang Kejian.