With its successful launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome on Tuesday, the Progress M 1-1 cargo ship is on its way to the Mir space station while ground controllers are busy preparing the orbital outpost for a visit from cosmonauts.
On January 21, mission control in Korolev, Russia, activated Mirs main computer. The next day, ground controllers successfully brought all 12 of the station's gyrodines on line.
Gyrodines are the complex, electrically driven reaction wheels that allow highly accurate three-axis orientation of the station while it's in orbit. They work in concert with the station's main computer to maneuver for orbit correction and docking with the incoming ships.
The station's last crew departed in August and there was much speculation that the station would be de-orbited in 2000. During its dormant flight ever since, Mir has been flying in passive mode, slowly rotating in space. Ground controllers have
On January 25, Mirs reactivated digital controls were used to slightly adjust the stations orbit by firing the engines of the Progress M 42 cargo ship that is currently attached to the rear docking port of the Kvant 1 module. Mission control used most of the available propellant on board for the maneuver, leaving only enough to de-orbit the station.
According to tracking data from NORAD, which tracks missiles and satellites about Earth, Mir is currently circling Earth in a 187- by 201-mile (301- by 324-kilometer) orbit. Progress M 1-1 reached its initial orbit at an altitude ranging from 120 to 149 miles (193 to 239 kilometers).
If all goes according to plan, the spent Progress M 42 will undock from Mir at 4 a.m. Moscow Time (12 p.m. Eastern Standard Time) on Wednesday, making room for Progress M 1-1.
"Mir has been certified to fly at least until February 2001, and this isour goal."
Progress cargo ships are designed to ferry supplies and fuel to the station. Upon completion of their missions, they are jettisoned to eventually reenter and burn up in the atmosphere.
In a standard flight profile, it takes two days for Progress to rendezvous and dock with the space station.
What's next for Mir
Following the rendezvous, Russia's mission control will run a series of tests to determine if the station's
can be replenished using commands from the ground, said Uriy Grigoriev, deputy designer general of RKK Energia, the company that operates Mir. "We are not actually going to refill the atmosphere in the station until shortly before the new crew arrival at the end of March or early April," Grigoriev told space.com.
The increased pressure inside the station would accelerate the leak, and it doesnt make sense to pump air from Progress into Mir, while the program for the next mission to Mir is still being finalized, Grigoriev said.
The current plan calls for the new crew launch to the space station on March 31, however, RKK Energia might consider a delay, if the circumstances require it.
Searching for the leak
As soon as the new crew arrives, the search for the leak on Mir will be one of the main tasks for the occupants of the station. "This leak is not life threatening, however, we do not feel comfortable while it is there," Grigoriev said.
"I am not an oracle to predict what is leaking on board, however, the way it is leaking points to one of those valves or hatches," Grigoriev said. "If it was a crack or something like that, the leak would very likely increase with time -- in this case, it actually went down as pressure inside decreased."
Progress M 1-1 will deliver several kilograms of equipment to the station, some of which could aid the cosmonauts in their search. The kit includes a special illuminated probe that will allow the crew to survey hard-to-access places on the station. "We also plan to play with a number of valves on board to see if one of them is leaking," Grigoriev said.
Along with the search for the leak, in the first few weeks, the crew will assess the general condition of the station, as well as conduct routine medical checks. The cosmonauts may take a spacewalk to check out Mir's exterior.
The scientific program for the upcoming Mir mission will depend largely on the amount of funds RKK Energia is able to raise, as well as the duration of the flight. RKK Energia is still in negotiations with potential European and U.S.-based partners on possible joint experiments.
Grigoriev confirmed the development of a large deployable antenna and a receiver for it in cooperation with a space agency in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. Though the experiment will not be ready when the new crew arrives at Mir, the company hopes to have it available by the middle of the year (the cosmonauts would still be aboard the station at that time), Grigoriev said.
The current Mir configuration includes: the core module; the Kvant 1 module, which carries mostly astronomical instruments; the Kvant 2 module, carrying some of the gyrodines and providing an air lock for the crews; the Kristall module, which features material-processing equipment; as well as the Spektr and Priroda modules, financed by the U.S. and other western partners who previously used the station.
There are no current plans to revive the Spektr module, which had been punctured in a collision with a Progress cargo ship in 1997.
The module has remained sealed off from the rest of the station, however previous crews has been able to plug Spektrs solar arrays into the stations electrical circuit. "Currently, three of the four solar arrays on board Spektr are supplying energy to the station and we are quite happy with it," Grigoriev said.
Spektr's fourth solar panel was severely damaged during the collision and cannot be used.
The Priroda module is accessible by the crew, however, most of its payloads have been mothballed. The module features a large radar antenna, which cannot be activated due to the lack of the large amount of power that is required to operate such equipment.
"We hope that [the new expedition] may allow [us] to continue experiments with [the] Priroda module, but it has not been decided yet," said Mikhail Smirnov, the principal scientist responsible for Priroda experiments at Russian Academy of Sciences.
"We dont think, the crew will have time to work with Prirodas instruments in the immediate future, however, Mir has been certified to fly at least till February 2001, and this is our goal," Grigoriev said.
advertisement
