According to Milena Koloteva, Head of the Laboratory of Acceleration and Artificial Gravity Physiology at the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, medical and technical requirements for the creation of an on-board short-radius centrifuge are currently being formedMOSCOW, April 14.
/tass/. The development of a short-range centrifuge (CCR), which will create artificial gravity on board the Russian Orbital Station (ROS), is planned to be completed by 2030. This was reported to TASS by a leading researcher, head of the Laboratory of the Physiology of Acceleration and Artificial Gravity of the Institute of Biomedical Problems (IMBP) RAN Milena Koloteva.
"I think that by 2030 we will have already formed a model and prototype of an on-board centrifuge. By the beginning of the formation of the appearance of the ROS with all modules and so on, by 2030, such a centrifuge will be created. The short-range centrifuge project has not yet been approved, the work is currently being carried out within the framework of the State Defense Order. This is the first year when the work has been seriously started. So far, it is connected with an analytical review of the existing world developments, taking into account design miscalculations, technical difficulties of implementation, with the justification of the need to use a centrifuge on board in principle," she said.
According to the specialist, medical and technical requirements are currently being formed for the creation of an on-board centrifuge of a short radius, and research is also being conducted on a ground-based, experimental centrifuge stand. "At this stand, we are working out issues related to obtaining optimal modes. In fact, the problem of creating artificial gravity in the conditions of orbital flight is currently being developed on Earth," Koloteva stressed.
According to the head of the Laboratory of the physiology of acceleration and artificial gravity of the IMBP RAS, the design of an on-board centrifuge for ROS will be simpler and lighter than an experimental sample. "Special materials will be developed for it in order to reduce purely technical issues related to vibration, energy consumption and so on. <...> The layout of the on-board centrifuge will be created in the IMBP a little later. On it, we will work out medical and technical requirements for a real on-board centrifuge, medical issues, as well as the possibility of its constructive assembly on board the ROS. The question of transporting the centrifuge into orbit remains open: either it will be delivered immediately as part of the module as a kind of full-fledged installation, or it will be assembled as a puzzle, the designer by the astronauts on board GREW independently," Koloteva noted.
According to the expert, due to the fact that a short-range centrifuge is intended to prevent the negative effects of prolonged weightlessness, it is necessary to evaluate the possibility of its implementation using this means of the adverse effect of prolonged model hypogravity on the human body in terrestrial conditions. Koloteva also said that earlier studies have shown the need for the combined use of CDR and other already available means of preventing negative manifestations of simulated weightlessness. "However, the effectiveness of the combined use of these funds has not yet been established. These data indicate the urgent need to conduct fundamental scientific research on the problem of creating artificial gravity with the help of CCR," she said.
Vladimir Kozhevnikov, Deputy General Designer of the Rocket and Space Corporation Energia (part of Roscosmos), chief designer of the ROS, reported in February in an interview with TASS that the launch date of the first scientific and energy module of the ROS is planned for the end of 2027, and the nodal, gateway, base and target modules for the period 2028-2030.
