Any questions about the Russian space community's attitude towards the upcoming deorbit of the Mir space station were put to rest late last week in an open letter from key Russian space officials. The verdict is in -- Mir must go.
The letter was signed by both Yuri Koptev, director general of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, as well as by Yuri Semenov, president of RSC Energia, the company that built the spacecraft. It depicted last-minute attempts by the Russian media to launch any kind of "Save Mir" campaign as irresponsible and "purely emotional and totally groundless from a technical standpoint."
Also included among the letter's signatories were Nikolai Anfimov, director of the Central Scientific Research Institute for Machine Building; Alexander Medvedev, Khrunichev Space Center director general and Anatoly Grigoriev, director of the Biomedical Institute.
Russian space officials and designers believe that "further politicization [of the Mir issue] is impossible while trying to resolve a purely technical problem and will cause for Russia serious moral, material and political damage. The mere fact of discussion of irresponsible, technically unsubstantiated and populist suggestions will result in the loss by Russia of its prestige as the world space power."
According to the letter, the decision to deorbit Mir was based on the objective analysis of the current state of the outpost. Russian experts came to the conclusion that the "actual condition of the onboard systems; the nature of the numerous failures; absence of spare parts, [the] manufacture of which has already been discontinued, do not make possible the safe and reliable operation of Mir."
The letter warned that proposals aimed at rescuing Mir "may lead to the loss of control of Mir space station and, as a result, to catastrophic consequences not only for Russia but for the whole world."
"Russia will have to launch three to four Progress spacecraft within the next three months to raise Mirs orbit to 500 kilometers (310 miles), the height where the station could allegedly stay for a few years," said Yuri Koptev. "This is totally imprudent and gives no guarantee that the outpost would be rescued for future generations."
Yuri Semenov criticized the Mir supporters' proposals to use some of Mir's "younger" modules for part of the International Space Station's (ISS) assembly. "Kvant has no engine," Semenov said. "Kvant 2 and Kristal have engines, but have no fuel. Spektr was damaged in the collision with Progress. Priroda has no docking unit, solar panels and other systems which would allow it to [be] used as an ISS module."
Foreign debt and Russian space budget
"Because of the Russian government's decision to pay Russias foreign debts, Russian space program may lose up to 1 billion, 150 million rubles of its total budget this year," Yuri Koptev said.
The current Russian space budget is about 4.7 billion rubles.
Koptev was angered at some Duma deputies for their continuous calls on Mirs rescue. "It takes up to 22 months to manufacture a spacecraft and a launch vehicle," he said. "The deputies should have thought about this earlier, back in 1996 or 1997, when they were shaping Russias space budget."
Over the last few days the station has increased its speed of fall which has reached up to 0.6 mile (1 kilometer) per day. Russian ground controllers estimate the outpost will have dropped to an altitude of 155 miles (250 kilometers) on March 8, plus or minus 5 days. The most accurate time of Mirs plunge into dense layers of atmosphere with an accuracy of plus-or-minus 10 hours will be determined three days before the day of deorbit. The station is scheduled to be brought down between March 13 and March 18.
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