MOSCOW, April 14. /TASS/. The development of a short-range centrifuge, allowing to create artificial gravity aboard the prospective Russian Orbital Station (ROS), is scheduled for completion by 2030, a Russian scientist has told TASS.

"I think that by 2030, we will create a model and a prototype of the on-board centrifuge. By the time when the ROS starts taking shape, with all its modules and so on, this centrifuge will be ready," said Milena Koloteva, a senior researcher at the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems (IMBP) of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).

"The project of a short-range centrifuge is yet to be approved. Work on the project is currently being carried out as part of the state defense procurement order," said Koloteva, who heads the institute’s acceleration and artificial gravity lab. "This is the first year of serious work on the project. So far, it is limited to analytical review of existing global practices, with regard to constructive miscalculations, technical difficulties and general reasons for having a centrifuge on board."

Transportation issues

According to the Russian scientist, the on-board version of the centrifuge will be simpler and lighter than its ground-based prototype.

"Special materials will be designed for the purpose, in order to improve technical issues related to vibration, energy consumption and so on," she said. "A model will be created at the IMBP some time later. We will use it to study medical and technical requirements for a real on-board centrifuge, medical issues and the possibility of assembling it on board the ROS."

"The issue of transporting it to the orbit remains open: it will either be delivered immediately, as part of some module <…>, or will be assembled on board by cosomonauts, like a puzzle or a construction set," the scientist added.

The idea of a Russian national orbital space station was made public in April 2021. Its preliminary design is currently under development. In October 2022, Deputy Prime Minister, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov told reporters that the preliminary costs of building Russia’s orbital outpost of the future were already known.

The deputy chief designer of the space rocket corporation Energia (a subsidiary of Roscosmos) Vladimir Kozhevnikov, appointed the future orbital station’s chief designer, told TASS in February that the launch of the first research and energy supply module was scheduled for late 2027 and that of the node, airlock, base and special purpose modules, for 2028-2030.