Russian Aerospace Chief Defends Plans To Sink Mir

SPACE TRAVEL

Mir is currently orbiting the Earth at an altitude of about 279 kilometers

Moscow (Interfax) Feb. 19, 2001
There is a very high chance that the Mir space station could hit a city if it makes an uncontrolled descent to Earth, the head of the Russian Aerospace Agency said Monday in defense of the government's plans to deorbit the station and sink it in the Pacific Ocean.

If the station were to make an uncontrolled descent it could fall to Earth anywhere between 52 degrees North latitude and 52 degrees South latitude, a band with many major population centers, Yuri Koptev said at a news conference.

Continuing to operate Mir would be pointless because many of the station's onboard systems have come to the end of their service life and the metal of the station's body needs to undergo a detailed structural analysis in a laboratory, Koptev said.

He said specialists at Russia's mission control are concerned that unsanctioned commands periodically arise in the system of the central onboard computer that affect the station's engines and control systems. This could affect the safety of Mir's flight and lead to unpredictable consequences, Koptev said.

In the controlled descent planned for Mir, fragments of the station that do not burn up in dense layers of the atmosphere would fall within an area of the Pacific Ocean that is 200 km wide and 5,000 to 6,000 km long.

Russia must end the operation of the 15-year old station with honor, Koptev said. "This is an invaluable experience in the construction of the International Space Station (ISS)," he added.

Meanwhile, Russian Aerospace Agency boss Yuri Koptev said on Monday, that Mir will be deorbited and sunk in the Pacific Ocean between March 13 and 17.

The exact date for when Mir will be sunk will be determined by trajectory experts at the end of February, Koptev told reporters.

Mir is expected to reach the critical altitude, when mission control will have to intervene to make sure the station crashes in a safe area of the Pacific, on March 8, Koptev said, citing preliminary calculations.

The date on which the station will be sunk depends directly on solar activity, because after solar flares the Earth's atmosphere acts as more of a brake on the station.

Koptev recalled that Mir's predecessor, the Salyut-7, made an uncontrolled descent to Earth because it had almost no rocket fuel left on board when it was decommissioned.

The situation with Mir is different, and the task of mission control is to control the station's descent until the end, he said.

Mir is currently orbiting the Earth at an altitude of about 279 kilometers, Koptev said.

SPACE TRAVEL

Russian Legislators Consider Proposals To Keep Mir In Orbit

Moscow (Interfax) Feb. 12, 2001
The governing body of Russia's lower house of parliament is set to consider on Tuesday a draft resolution introduced by the Communist faction for preventing next month's planned deorbiting of the Russian space station Mir, Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov said on Monday.

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.