MOSCOW, July 13. /TASS/. A family of small spacecraft will circle the globe in the vicinity of the Russian Orbital Station (ROS), Vladimir Solovyov, the chief designer at the Energia Space Rocket Corporation, told TASS in an interview.

"We will be setting brand-new goals, absolutely unusual for Russian and foreign spacecraft, like providing guidance for a fleet of satellites directly from the station," said Solovyov, who is Russia’s general designer for manned spacecraft.

According to him, the spacecraft will be launched to the station before being orbited right from its board. "This fleet will fly near the station. And this, too, will imply brand-new tasks for mission control as no one has ever endeavored to do so," Solovyov added.

Russia is currently working to build the Russian Orbital Station that should be launched into a near-polar orbit between 2027 and 2033.