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Mir Steadily Falling Back To Earth
The average altitude of the Russian space station Mir has descended by another 1.8 kilometers to 253.3 kilometers in the past 24 hours, the Russian space mission control center located in the town of Korolyov outside Moscow has told Interfax. During communication sessions over the past 24 hours, the condition of Mir's flight systems was checked and its orbit radio- controlled. The data obtained indicates that the orbital station remains sealed, its thermal regime is normal, and the parameters of the flight systems correspond to the calculated ones. At the present time, Mir is flying freely and is aerodynamically slowing down in the layers of the upper atmosphere. After the station reaches an altitude of 220 kilometers, mission control will compute a trajectory for its descent and send three final braking commands. Earlier Russian space officials Mir said Mir will plunge into the Pacific Ocean on March 20, give or take a day, said Viktor Blagov, deputy mission controller, at a Wednesday news conference at the mission control center in Korolyov, outside Moscow. "Everything will depend on the Earth's atmosphere and fluctuations in solar activity, which are very hard to predict," he said. The station is currently orbiting at an altitude of 255.1 kilometers, dropping at an average rate of 1.8 kilometers per day. When its altitude reaches 250 kilometers above the Earth, mission control engineers will evaluate the performance of the spaceborne control system and atmospheric variables, Blagov said. All control center's services are prepared for this, he added. On March 20, Mir's altitude is expected to drop to 220 kilometers. If everything goes according to plan, on March 19 the station will take the necessary orientation and the next day braking thrusts will be programmed in, Blagov said. The first two will set the descent path, and in the course of two orbits the station will receive signals triggering the final braking thrust. The station's descent will take 45 minutes. While the braking will start within the range of the ground control systems, the re-entry and burning-up stages will be outside their range. However, a U.S. tracking station may observe the fall of the station's intact parts.
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Russia Seeks Insurance Over Mir Damage
Moscow - March 5, 2001With the Russian space station Mir coming down to Earth, the Russian Space Agency has gone shopping for an insurance policy to cover any damage to third parties. According to a Itar-Tass report, RSA is now going through the necessary formalities to obtain coverage.
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