Spectr
| Mission dates | |
|---|---|
| Mission: | Spectr |
| Crew: | unmanned |
| Target: | Me |
| Start vehicle: | proton |
| Start on: | May 20, 1995 / Baikonur |
| Coupling on: | June 1, 1995 |
| Decoupling on: | - |
| Re-entry on: | March 23, 2001 |
| Flight duration: | 2,134 days |
| burns up over: | Pacific |
| Earth orbits: | around 34,500 |
|
previous DCS mission : |
following DCS mission : |
Spektr ( Russian Спектр , spectrum ') is the name of a scientific module with which the Russian space station Mir was extended 1995th Spektr became known in particular through international cooperation and a collision with a cargo ship.
development
On behalf of the Soviet Ministry of Defense, the manufacturer developed Tschelomei in a top-secret military project a space-based system to defend against intercontinental ballistic missiles . As with other projects, the proven basis of the TKS spaceship was used to simplify development . The original plan provided for a TKS spaceship to be equipped with Oktava interceptor missiles with appropriate sensor technology to detect and track enemy ICBMs. The prototype of this system should first be tested autonomously in space and then docked to the Mir space station for intensive testing of the equipment by a crew . Towards the end of the Cold War and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1992, the military space program was largely discontinued. The well-advanced Spektr project was stopped and the prototype built so far was initially preserved.
In July 1993, a joint space program between the USA and Russia was decided in order to realize the long-term goal of an international space station as a permanently inhabited outpost of humanity in space . In order to gain the necessary experience, Russia and the USA signed the Shuttle Mir program in 1993 for ten shuttle flights to the Russian Mir and for long-term stays of US astronauts on the space station. In addition to a lump sum payment of around 400 million US dollars, NASA made additional funds available to convert Spektr into a civil research module and start it up to Mir. In return, Russia committed to include US experiments and equipment in Spektr.
As a major change, instead of the Oktava rocket facility, additional space was created at the rear of Spektr for two additional solar panels to supply the station with energy. As with the other modules, the maximum diameter was 4.1 meters; By installing the additional solar cells at the rear, Spektr formed the longest extension module at around 14 meters. The pressurized interior was about 62 cubic meters. The small airlock, which was originally intended to be used to launch dummy targets, was supplemented by an external robotic arm and modified for launching experiments in free space. The planning phase of the renovation was completed in 1993 and the start is initially planned for 1994.
Start and installation
However, the installation and adaptation of NASA equipment to Russian standards delayed the completion of Spektr, so that the launch on board a Proton could only take place on May 20, 1995. Spectrum was thus the first module for the space station that could be launched after the collapse of the Soviet Union and a five-year break in the construction sequence. With a take-off weight of around 20 tons, Spektr roughly corresponded to the other modules based on TKS, Kwant-2 and Kristall . The automatic docking took place after a twelve-day autonomous flight on June 1, 1995, initially in the usual way at the axial docking point of the Mir coupling node. In order to create enough space for the solar cells and to clear the axial docking point again for Soyuz spaceships and Progress transporters, the Mir robotic arm moved it to the radial position opposite Kwant-2 one day later. This first had to be approved by Kristall, which was offset by 90 ° before the installation of Sp exc. Spectrum remained in space until the controlled crash of the entire complex on March 23, 2001.
Scientific tasks
It is noteworthy that the original military equipment has been completely removed and the empty shell of Spektr has been completely refurbished. During the renovation, meticulous care was taken to ensure that the facilities of the military project did not fall into the hands of the Americans, so that to this day not all details about the original equipment are known. After the conversion, scientific equipment from NASA was on board the Russian space station for the first time.
The primary task of Spektr after the renovation was to monitor and remotely sense the earth. For this purpose, Spektr had facilities for researching the earth's atmosphere as well as for geophysical investigations, in particular the detection of mineral resources . With the help of a retrofitted lock, experiments could be attached to the outer wall and the effects of cosmic rays researched. In the interior, in addition to the equipment required for the Shuttle Mir program, American devices for materials research, biological research and research into the fundamentals of operating a space station were found. In addition, Spektr served as a living and working area for American astronauts.
As a special feature, the four solar modules arranged in an x-shape differed greatly from the other modules. With a total area of around 65 square meters, they produced almost seven kilowatts of energy, which could be stored in corresponding accumulators. With this, Spektr was the most important electricity supplier for Mir and especially for the modules Kristall , SDM and Priroda , which mostly operated without their own solar cells.
accident
On June 25, 1997, the unmanned freighter Progress M-34 collided with Sp exc during the automatic docking maneuver. The collision occurred due to an error when testing a new guidance and proximity system with TORU . In addition to considerable damage to the filigree solar cells, the collision caused a hole in the outer skin of Spektr, which caused the air pressure on board the entire space station to drop. At the time of the collision, the Mir was manned by the cosmonauts Wassili Ziblijew and Alexander Lasutkin as well as the American astronaut Michael Foale , who were in acute danger of death due to the loss of pressure. Instead of leaving the station with the docked Soyuz TM-25 , the crew immediately hermetically sealed the damaged module , but had to rush to sever several cable and hose connections through the docking point.
At the time of the accident, Sp exc was Mir's most important module for generating electricity. Due to the damage to the solar cells and the separation of important connections during the sealing of Sp exc, the solar panels from Sp exc could no longer be turned into the sun and no longer deliver the generated electricity to the station. With this, the entire power supply of Spectrum and thus almost half of the total energy of the Mir was initially lost. After the accident, there was no electricity to run experiments and essential Mir equipment. Furthermore, NASA lost many of its experiments due to the foreclosure and the astronaut Michael Foale lost most of his personal equipment, as these were mostly housed in Spektr.
The first attempt at repairs was made in August 1997 as part of the Soyuz TM-26 mission , during which the specially trained cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyov and Pavel Winogradov were brought to the space station. They climbed in space suits for an “internal exit” into the evacuated Spectrum module and repaired the main line and various cable harnesses that were damaged during the isolation process. As an essential first step, it was possible to restore the controllability of the solar cells and most of the energy generation.
Further noteworthy attempts to save the module were a five-hour space exit on October 1, 1997 as part of the visit of the Space Shuttle Atlantis ( STS-86 ), during which the space travelers Wladimir Titow and Scott Parazynski attached a special cover to seal the leaks on Spektr. When the space shuttle was decoupled, Sp exc was put under pressure on a trial basis, whereupon the crew of the Atlantis was able to observe and photograph the escape of gas despite the cover. After various other repair attempts , the escape of gas from the damaged module was observed during the next but one and last shuttle visit in June 1998, this time by the Discovery ( STS-91 ) crew . Even the last crew on board the Mir ( Soyuz TM-30 ) tried in vain to find the leaks during a final disembarkation. The sealing of Spektr never succeeded, so that the module remained unusable for scientific work after the accident and only two years of use until the end of the Mir. The supply of energy to Mir, which is necessary for the unmanned flight, among other things, could be ensured until the controlled re-entry.
Conclusions
No other Mir module illustrates the drastic change in the strategy of the space programs as well as Sp exc: Once developed as a military project of the Cold War to fight the USA, Sp exc is later co-financed and used scientifically by the USA. Like other components of Mir, Sp exc made the joint space program possible and contributed to the political rapprochement of the formerly hostile nations.
In addition, after the collision with the transport spaceship Progress-M 34 with the Spektr module of the station, the safety of space stations was discussed for a long time. The initial critical voices, especially on the part of NASA, who refused to send further space travelers to Mir, were finally overlaid by a program for crisis management for space stations. In this area essential knowledge for the operation of a space station could be gained within the scope of the use of Spektr. Fortunately , such rescue techniques have not yet been used on the ISS .
swell
- Harland, David M .; The story of Space Station Mir , Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, New York 2005, ISBN 0-387-23011-4
Individual evidence
- ^ NASA: C. Michael Foale. (PDF) In: NASA Oral History. P. 10ff , accessed on February 28, 2016 (English, report on the collision from Foale's point of view).
Web links
- NASA: NASA Mission and Spacecraft Library: Spektr (English)
- NASA: animation of the collision , MPG of 16 MB
.svg)
Cosmos 929 | Cosmos 1267 | Cosmos 1443 | Cosmos 1686 | Kwant | Poljus | Kwant 2 | Crystal | Spectr | Priroda | Zarya | Nauka
Basic block | Kwant | Kwant 2 | Crystal | Spectr | Shuttle Docking Module | Priroda
