Russia to Built New Orbital Platform

Roskosmos chief Anatoly Perminov said at the International Space Congress in Vancouver that according to Russia's federal space program for 2006-2015, Russia is going to develop a new orbital basic platform available for cosmonauts.

Roskosmos cited Anatoly Perminov as saying that this platform will let continue and increase the researches currently conducted at the International Space Station. He adds, the new platform will combine the advantages of a manned complex and an unmanned space vehicle.

The Roskosmos chief said the new orbital platform “is particularly meant for development and tests of perspective interplanetary complexes and for testing the complex of new generation transport and hardware systems.” The Roskosmos release reports that the complex will include a reusable system for orbiting freight and new braking mechanisms for freight delivery to the Earth and to planets.

Anatoly Perminov believes that assembly and launching of a manned complex to Moon and Mars must be done on the orbit. This in its turn requires creation of an assembly platform and an effective system to provide assembly operations with transport and hardware.
 
The Roskosmos chief reports Russian space research institutes and industrial companies have been working on the problem since 1960-70s. “Russia has a large scientific and technical reserve essential for such a global project,” Anatoly Perminov says. For instance, various aspects of a Martian expedition are worked on now: organization of the expedition, flight routs, projects of an interplanetary complex, training and medical care of space crews, life-support systems and so on.
 
Russia is also experienced in organization of long manned flights. The Russian methods for selecting and training of cosmonauts, the effective medical care during space flights save health and efficiency of space crews.
 
However, Anatoly Perminov adds the interplanetary manned expedition demands joint efforts of countries with leading space technologies and great achievements. This is important for technical maintaining as well as for financial support of the project. The exact date of the project implementation depends upon several factors such as the scope on international cooperation, its technological, industrial and financial reserves, Anatoly Perminov concluded.