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ZL2VAL > SPACE 23.04.01 18:32l 79 Lines 3533 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Mir 2 unvieled.
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Sent: 010411/2023Z @:ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC #:41939 [New Plymouth] FBB7.00g $:5571-ZL
From: ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
To : SPACE@WW
[¯¯¯ TST HOST 1.43c, UTC diff:-12, Local time: Thu Apr 12 08:23:40 2001 ®®®]
Russia Unveils Mir 2 But Spacecraft Construction Not on the Agenda
By Yuri Karash
Moscow Contributing Correspondent
posted: 07:00 am ET
11 April 2001
With the deorbiting of the Mir Space Station, the future of Russia's space
program has been the subject of great debate: Has Russia become a
second-tier space power behind the United States? What role will Russia
play in the International Space Station? Could or should Russia build Mir 2?
As both Russia and the U.S. redefine their roles in a post-Mir, post-ISS
budget cuts world, engineers in Russia have unveiled the plans for a
Russian space station that could conceivably replace Mir.
However, according to Mikhail Synelshchikov, Chief of Human Space Flight
Directorate of Rosaviakosmos, plans to build the station are currently "not
on the agenda."
"Work on the next generation manned spacecraft, including space stations,
is in progress, but most likely none of such projects will be realized
until the ISS is completed," Synelshchikov told SPACE.com.
"Mir 2 is a product of the evolutionary development of Salyut- and Mir-type
stations' concept," said Leonid Gorshkov, one of the leading designers of
RSC Energia, in his exclusive interview with SPACE.com. "Each proceeding
station was a result of a thorough analysis of the previous station’s
design and operation. We tried to make each descendent free of the flaws
and deficiencies of its predecessor."
And although Mir proved to be a very robust machine, setting the record for
manned spacecraft longevity in space, Gorshkov admits that by the time of
its deorbit it was no longer a state of the art spacecaft.
"Mir had a number of flaws," Gorshkov said. "The first and the biggest flaw
being that Mir was short on power despite the fact that almost all the
surfaces of its modules were covered by solar arrays. These arrays,
however, were placed too close to the station and they had only two degrees
of freedom, meaning that they often overshadowed each other."
Mir 2's designers have taken that into consideration and designed Mir 2's
solar arrays so that they are further away from the body of the new
station, giving the arrays more sun orientation capacity.
Other key elements of Mir, particularly motion and orientation control
systems, were upgraded in Mir 2 design as well.
"We were not satisfied with the orbital inclination of Mir either," said
Gorshkov. "51.6deg inclination did not enable the outpost to cover most of
the Russian territory. The new space station was supposed to be launched at
65deg inclination."
According to Gorshkov, many of Mir 2's ideas were incorporated into the
Russian segments of the ISS. If Mir 2 is ever created its design and
operation would be based on both Mir and ISS experience.
Synelshchikov said that while building Mir 2 was not in the immediate
future, he would not exclude the possibility of Russia developing and
building other advanced human spacecraft.
======================================
73 de Alan
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