Russia unveils model of new space station

STORY: Russia's national space agency Roscosmos presented a model of the planned space station, dubbed "ROSS" by Russian state media, on Monday at "Army-2022," a military-industrial exhibition outside Moscow.

Yuri Borisov, whom President Vladimir Putin appointed last month to head Roscosmos, has said Russia will quit the ISS after 2024 and is working to develop its own orbital station.

Roscosmos said in a statement that the new space station would be launched in two phases, without giving dates.

The first phase would see a four-module space station start operating. That would later be followed by a further two modules and a service platform, it said. That would be enough, when completed, to accommodate up to four cosmonauts as well as scientific equipment.

Roscosmos has said the new station would afford Russian cosmonauts a much wider view of the Earth for monitoring purposes than they enjoy in their current segment.

Although designs for some of the new station already exist, design work is still underway on other segments.

Islamic Republic of Iran presented at "Army-2022" exhibition its unmanned drones and missiles. Last month the United States said that Russian officials visited an airfield in Iran to view attack-capable drones.

The United States also said it had information that showed Iran was preparing to provide Russia with several hundred drones, including some that are weapons capable, and that Tehran is preparing to train Russian forces to use them. Iran has denied that.