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Russian Space Forces Inaugurate New Space-Tracking Facility
By Associated Press
posted: 04:41 pm ET
18 July 2002
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MOSCOW (AP) _ The Russian military space forces on Thursday inaugurated an optical tracking facility located in the ex-Soviet republic of Tajikistan that is intended to monitor objects in space MOSCOW (AP) _ The Russian military space forces on Thursday inaugurated an optical tracking facility located in the ex-Soviet republic of Tajikistan that is intended to monitor objects in space. The Okno (Window) complex, near the town of Nurek in central Tajikistan, is capable of tracking objects 40,000 kilometers (24,800 miles) from Earth, the space forces said in a statement carried by the Interfax-Military News Agency. According to the space forces, the Okno, which was put on test duty Thursday, offers a better range and precision than standard radar facilities. The report did not elaborate on how the Okno works. The facility involves telescope-like equipment housed in several large spheres, according to images on the Federation of American Scientists' web site. The site describes it as similar to the U.S. GEODSS system, or ground-based electro-optical deep space surveillance. Three such U.S. facilities are operational. Space forces chief Col.-Gen. Anatoly Perminov traveled to the site, 50 kilometers (30 miles) southeast of the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, to report on the facility's launch to Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, the report said. Located in Tajikistan's mountains 2,200 meters (7,260 feet) above sea level, the Okno takes advantage of the area's fine weather and high transparency of the atmosphere, conditions not found elsewhere in the former Soviet Union, the space forces said. The construction of the facility started in 1979, but stopped after the 1991 Soviet collapse when Tajikistan slid into a five-year civil war that left its economy in shambles and its population in deep poverty. About 25,000 Russian troops and border guards are deployed in Tajikistan to help protect its volatile southern border with Afghanistan and help stem drug smuggling.
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