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Russian Satellites Still Astray, Minister Blames Lack Of Funds
Moscow (AFP) May 11, 2001 Mission control was still struggling late Friday to rein in four Russian military satellites gone astray in orbit after a fire at ground command that a top minister blamed on a lack of funds for Russia's ageing space facilities. Mission control restored contact with the four satellites, out of touch following the serious fire at the control centre of the Russian armed forces' space division, but had not yet regained full control by late Friday. The blaze broke out in the early hours of Thursday, destroying the building and severing communications links with the satellites. Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov said the fire was due to lack of funds for the modernisation of the country's space facilities. Russian satellites "suffer from ageing through lack of adequate financing," he was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying. The problem applied both to satellite and to ground control facilities. "We have not lost the satellites," Klebanov stressed, giving an assurance that no serious space incident was likely to occur as a result of the temporary glitch. Thursday's incident recalled a 24-hour alert last December when Russia's space mission control centre lost contact with the ageing Mir space station, arousing fears that it might spin out of control and crash to earth in a populated area. The Thursday fire occurred at a space centre at the armed forces space division headquarters at Kurilovo, 100 kilometres (60 miles) south-west of Moscow. By midday, the firemen had extinguished the flames but cables continued to smoulder. The emergency situations ministry compared the fire with the blaze that seriously damaged the Ostankino telecommunications tower in Moscow last August, also caused by a short-circuit. General Anatoly Perminov, commanding space forces, was quoted by Interfax as saying normal links with the satellites were expected to resume quickly. Klebanov said the satellites were "no longer young," and required frequent corrections to their orbital positions. It would require two to three weeks to restore the damaged command centre. Russia's space forces are responsible for the launch and management of both military and commercial satellites. At present, Russia has 90 civilian and military satellites compared to 190 during the Soviet era, Russian Space Agency Director Yury Koptev said Friday. Forty percent of those in use were civilian and 60 percent military, although half the satellites deployed could be put to both civilian and military use, he explained. Russia no longer has any photo reconnaissance satellites, the London magazine Jane's Defence Weekly reported. CommunityEmail This Article Comment On This Article Related Links SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express Military Space News at SpaceWar.com
Space Group To Activate New Unit
Colorado Springs CO (SPX) Jan 6, 2006Air Force Reserve Command's 310th Space Group will travel deeper into the space program when it activates a new unit Jan. 7. Headquarters Reserve National Security Space Institute will be a Reserve associate unit to the National Security Space Institute in Colorado Springs, Colo. The institute is the Department of Defense's focal point for providing education about space power in joint warfighting. |
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