Russian Orbital Station (ROS) Development

[DaveS]

Except for ISS, the core was Zarya, not Zvezda. ISS did just fine from November 1998 until July 2000 when Zvezda showed up and ISS docked with it (yes, that's right, ISS was the active vehicle in that operation, not Zvezda).

[Nighthawk117]

The ISS could only accommodate a crew once Zvezda docked.

It has 3 Electron oxygen generating units. Zarya has none. Nauka has one.

Both Zvezda and Nauka have toilets, Zarya has none.

[DaveS]

True but Zarya was really the only component required for ISS to function in a "man-tended" state, it was fully functional otherwise. Zvezda only really brought the creature comforts with the GNC only being integrated once the US Lab had been activated.

[Nighthawk117]

One more thing, Zarya is owned by NASA. They paid Russia to build it.

"Zarya was built in Russia but financed by the United States. Its name, meaning "sunrise," symbolizes the beginning of a new era of international space cooperation."

[zubenelgenubi]

Moderator:
Off-topic discussion deleted.  The space policy implications should be discussed in Space Policy.

Nighthawk, if you can't post within the forum's rules, don't post!

Thank you 

[JSz]

https://x.com/katlinegrey/status/1996951812184604715
Dec 5, 2025 6:36 AM
After #ISS is decommissioned, Russia and India are agreeing to put their future space stations (#ROS and #BAS) on the same orbit inclination, said Dmitry Bakanov, head of Roscosmos, during a visit to New Delhi. First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov added, it will be 51.6°.

Katy's concise post suggests that there are three main reasons why Russia has withdrawn from its station in polar orbit. Essentially, they are all financial:

1. It provides a convenient justification for postponing the construction of ROS until 2030 or 2031.

2. This will make it possible to use the existing ISS modules, including the latest Nauka and Prichal. The planned or under construction NEM-1 is not urgent in this situation and can wait for launch for as long as Nauka did.

3. There has been mention of an Indian station to be placed in the same orbit. I believe this is so that ROS and BAS can be combined into a single "international" station. This way, the costs will be halved, and any other stations, such as Haven or Axiom, will be referred to by Russia as American stations.

[Nighthawk117]

(Placeholder)

--Chris G.  Will change in a few minutes.

Edit by FST:

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2021/04/roscosmos-future-for-mid-2020s/

Roscosmos discusses ISS withdrawal strategy and new space station for mid-2020s
written by Katya Pavlushchenko April 30, 2021

Recently, Russian authorities began talking about a potential withdrawal from the International Space Station (ISS) project in 2025. In place of ISS, the Russian space industry would gain ROSS – a new orbital station that’s name stands for Russian Orbital Service Station.

According to Roscosmos representatives, the withdrawal from the ISS will be gradual, which means that for some time the ISS and ROSS will work in space in parallel. At the same time, Russia and China have plans to build a lunar space station together.

Congratulations to Katya on her first NSF article!

This thread started on 4/30/21. I suggest it should be closed and replaced with a "Nauka Station" one.

[marcus79]

It's not the worst of plans considering the circumstances. They have the flight model of NEM-1, which must be ready by 2030 certainly, as the mainstay of the station, then Nauka with the European robotic arm (I guess that won't have to be detached) and Prichal.

The polar orbit station would have required more new modules other than NEM-1 and I guess also Orel. Which adds what, really? The requirements for this station were never really well-defined, it seems to me it's really about keeping human spaceflight going, which some Russian officials had expressed misgivings about. This plan may be the pragmatic solution to something that is a political requirement, but not a priority.

[Nighthawk117]

Nice article from Eric Berger

"Russia is about to do the most Russia thing ever with its next space station"

https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/12/russia-is-about-to-do-the-most-russia-thing-ever-with-its-next-space-station/

[big_gazza]

Nice article from Eric Berger

Groan...  no, it isn't.  It's just another dumb hit piece to repeat the same derogatory junk about the Russians to make some people feel better...

Repeating articles from Russian media doesn't make the criticisms factual.  Ruskii media is as feckless as our own, and Novye Izvestia has a long history of being anti-Kremlin in its outlook, and was owned (at least partly) by the Oligarch kingpin and Putins arch-enemy from the 2010s Boris Berezovsky.

This article is a bit of a confusing mess as its a mish-mash of quotes from the Novye Izvestia article mixed with Mr Bergers own commentary, and without quotations its a little hard to figure out who is saying what.  I'll make some critques based on what is written in the Artechnica article without worrying about who wrote what - I don't have time to review both Arstechnica and the Novye Izvestia offerings.

There may also not be much time for new research. Russian cosmonauts on the space station currently spend about 50 percent of their time on station maintenance due to the aging infrastructure.

Well, NASA peronnel spend 44% of their workhours on maintenance and station upkeep., the US segment(s) are no different.

So, at a time when China will have its own Tiangong space station, NASA should have one or more privately operated space stations to visit, and India may also begin the construction of its own orbital outpost, Russian cosmonauts will be left with what, exactly?

I don't even think I need to respond to such a dumb statement.  I mean this is supposed to be a serious criticism? Russians will do on their national station exactly what other nations do on their own...

“Russia, meanwhile, will be left to carry on the legacy of the ISS, with all its problems,” the New Izvestia article states. “We won’t have a new orbital station with modern capabilities yet, and the Vostochny Cosmodrome is losing much of its significance, meaning investments in a launch pad for manned flights could go down the drain. But let’s be happy for Kazakhstan—its authorities will continue to receive rent from Baikonur.”

Vostochny is losing significance??? Why? Because the author says so?    Why shouldn't Kazakhstan continue to receive rent for the use of manned Soyuz failities and Proton-associated bldgs and launch pads?   What investments are going down the drain?  The author is clearly looking for anything he can gripe about even its just snarky complaints about nothing in particular 

This is clearly a money-saving move for Russia. Given its war-strapped economy, the country cannot afford major investments in civil space projects. It has been clear for some time that ROS was largely a vaporware project. However, basing a new station on decades-old elements of the space station, which have shown signs of cracking and leaking, is remarkable even for Russia’s threadbare space program.

Money saving? maybe, buts the world we live in.  As for war-strapped economy, this canard gets a lot of airplay but their economy is still growing even in the face of massive Western sanctions and a steep-ramp up of interest rates by the RCB to combat the over-heating in 2024 (Russians actually worked to reduce the growth rate in order to bring down inflation).  ROS is not vapourware, no matter how much some people want it to be. 

As for "signs of cracking and leaking" that is associated with the docking chamber of Zvesda, but this proposed re-use of ISS components is for Nauka, not Zvesda which will be de-orbited along with the equally "decades-old" US segments. Nauka, while it has a long history, is still a newly-certified assembly with plenty of orbital life remaining.  It is old DOS-style design, so will be very different to the NEM-1 (which despite the articles claims, NEM-1 will be the new core of ROS, not a re-purposed ISS module) but I'm sure that it can be properly integrated into the station stack if they choose to go that way.

If Russia has a "threadbare" space program, then what can we say about ESA?    Roskosmos budget for 2024 was equal to USD3.5B while ESA spent €7.79 billion (or USD9.1B in current rates).  Well over double the outlay but what did the Euros get for this? Does ESA maintain a manned program, including ISS segment? Are ESA developing a new manned transport system for LEO and lunar use? How many rocket types do ESA operate, and what is their launch cadence? 8 flights for 2025 vs 20 for Russia even though ESA isn't sanctioned by anyone and have full access to commercial launch market (unlike Russia/China who are banned for reasons of politics & dominance of market-share).   

Russia’s justification for the change is amusing. Manturov and the chief of Roscosmos, Dmitry Bakanov, have said that putting ROS at an inclination of 51.6 degrees would enable interaction with an Indian station, which may fly in a similar orbit. So maybe there can be some collaboration in the time before Russia’s station falls apart and India’s begins to fly?

OK, so now the author doesn't even bother to conceal their animosities    Roskosmos is sticking to 51.6 deg as per current practise to be more compatible with Tiangong station at 42 deg and probably also to avoid other issues such as higher radiation environment in polar orbit.  A prospective Indian stations orbital inclination will no doubt be selected to match ROS now that a polar orbit is no longer considered - that makes sense for mutual support and emergency operations between parties.  Suggesting that Russia has retained the ISS-ish orbit just to align with a hypothetical Indian station is simply being scurrilous.  Retaining the same orbital inclination also makes it feasible to repurpose Nauka, so its most likely that is the reason why its being reconsidered.

Finally the article says "some collaboration in the time before Russia’s station falls apart"? Oh puh-leease...  not even a pretense of professionalism or balance...

Arstechnica is a junk source, and any articles about Ruskies/ChiComs is always of the standard of snarky tabloid trash. If one wants to get a handle on their intended audience, one only neeeds to suffer through the comments section... good Lord above...

Mr Berger was however spot on in his closing comments (That is thin gruel, indeed) just not in the way that I think he intended...

[russianhalo117]

This is not the thread nor the forum for either of you to be unclassy and blah blah blah to each other. Move on or be moderated.

[big_gazza]

Actually all I did was to express my opinion as to the worth of the linked article, and then proceed to critique said article with what I contend are verifiable facts.

Not sure why that should be subject to moderation?

Point taken however...  Feel free to delete if needed.  I do find it annoying that the forum allows some members to cheap-shot the Ruskies for politically motivated opinions, but seems to have (near) zero tolerance for those with diametrically opposite viewpoints. I get censored routinely, even if I keep my posts (mostly) free from snark...  Oh well, cie la vie...

[marcus79]

Nice article from Eric Berger

"Russia is about to do the most Russia thing ever with its next space station"

https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/12/russia-is-about-to-do-the-most-russia-thing-ever-with-its-next-space-station/

The article is incorrect in assuming that the entire Russian segment will continue as an independent space station and ignores the NEM-1 as the new 'core' of ROS. Quite embarassing actually.

In addition, I think Russia's capabilities should not a priori be doubted or made fun of. I watched some youtube videos recently and they have a lot of infrastructure, transport, energy and industrial activity going on that is impressive. Of course it's a question of limited resources (and especially personnel) and priorities.

[daedalus1]

Actually  (big_gazza) if the reports are correct that the Russians want to detach part of the ISS and continue to use it, then they are forced to stay in a 51.6° orbit.
As for India I doubt India will align its own station to 51.6°, but we will probably soon know that when the first unmanned test of its own spaceship takes place early next year. Even though it's a few years off yet, I think the test will most likely be to the inclination of their station.

[Nicolas PILLET]

Nice article from Eric Berger

"Russia is about to do the most Russia thing ever with its next space station"

https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/12/russia-is-about-to-do-the-most-russia-thing-ever-with-its-next-space-station/

Many many mistakes. Russia will not recycle the whole Russian segment, but only the Nauka module. The deorbiting of the ISS (without the Nauka and Prichal modules) will be made by Russian segment and the SpaceX deorbit vehicle.

[TheKutKu]

Actually  (big_gazza) if the reports are correct that the Russians want to detach part of the ISS and continue to use it, then they are forced to stay in a 51.6° orbit.
As for India I doubt India will align its own station to 51.6°, but we will probably soon know that when the first unmanned test of its own spaceship takes place early next year. Even though it's a few years off yet, I think the test will most likely be to the inclination of their station.

All new planned stations worldwide but Voyager Space's Starlab are planned to be at 51.6°

[daedalus1]

Actually  (big_gazza) if the reports are correct that the Russians want to detach part of the ISS and continue to use it, then they are forced to stay in a 51.6° orbit.
As for India I doubt India will align its own station to 51.6°, but we will probably soon know that when the first unmanned test of its own spaceship takes place early next year. Even though it's a few years off yet, I think the test will most likely be to the inclination of their station.

All new planned stations worldwide but Voyager Space's Starlab are planned to be at 51.6°

I think that's incorrect. Do you have information to back up that claim?

[TheKutKu]

Actually  (big_gazza) if the reports are correct that the Russians want to detach part of the ISS and continue to use it, then they are forced to stay in a 51.6° orbit.
As for India I doubt India will align its own station to 51.6°, but we will probably soon know that when the first unmanned test of its own spaceship takes place early next year. Even though it's a few years off yet, I think the test will most likely be to the inclination of their station.

All new planned stations worldwide but Voyager Space's Starlab are planned to be at 51.6°

I think that's incorrect. Do you have information to back up that claim?

https://www.vastspace.com/haven-1-vr
https://www.nationalacademies.org/cdn/materials/9fba0b75-27c5-4b44-b866-a0071e19fdc1
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2024/12/spadex-launch/ https://www.unoosa.org/documents/pdf/copuos/2024/Technical_Presentations/26Day/6_item_15_Updated_India_Space_Exploration_Roadmap_21_June_2024-edited_1.pdf
https://starlab-space.com/space-station/

No Idea why Starlab is launching in 45°,I suspect it'll change to 51.6° when they'll be less in a powerpoint stage.

[StraumliBlight]

All new planned stations worldwide but Voyager Space's Starlab are planned to be at 51.6°

I think that's incorrect. Do you have information to back up that claim?

Space Station	Altitude (km)	Inclination (°)
Starlab	500	45
Haven-1	425	51.6
Haven-2	?	?
Thunderbird	?	?
Bharatiya Antariksh Station	400-450	51.5
Orbital Reef	400-500	"mid"
Axiom Station	~500	51.6?

[PM3]

Eric Berger's interpretation of the original sources is faulty. This is what was announced:

The State Corporation Roscosmos has approved the deployment of the Russian Orbital Station (ROS) as part of the Domestic segment of the International Space Station (ISS). This was announced on Wednesday, December 18, by Oleg Orlov, Director of the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).
...
Orlov clarified that ROS would be separated into an independent flight in the future, after the completion of the ISS project.

https://en.iz.ru/en/2011193/2025-12-19/roscosmos-has-approved-deployment-ros-iss-followed-separation

ROS segment will be added to the Russian ISS segment, and then ROS will be separated from the ISS. This does not necessarily mean that any old Russian ISS modules will be part of ROS. It could be the same process as with the U.S. Axiom segment.