The fate of the Russian space station Mir was thrown into confusion Tuesday after conflicting reports out of Moscow that Russian officials had decided to deorbit the aging complex early next year.
Several Russian media outlets reported Tuesday that Russian officials had decided to bring down the station shortly after the 15th anniversary of the launch of the outpost's original core module next February. Those reports cited a lack of funds to continue operations.
Other sources, though, reported that a General Designer's Board meeting of leading aerospace officials recommended to the Russian government that Mir be deorbited only if the government decided not to provide additional funding to support the station.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, speaking Tuesday while on a state visit to India, appeared to support the latter reports, confirming that officials had recommended that the station be deorbited, while adding that a final decision on the station had yet to be made by the Russian Aviation and Space Agency and the Russian Cabinet.
MirCorp, the company leasing the station for commercial uses, tried to put a positive spin on the reports, noting that the designers' board approved plans for the mid-October launch of a Progress cargo spacecraft to Mir. One of the things that spacecraft will do will be to boost the station into a higher orbit.
The company also acknowledged the contradictory reports coming out of Russia about the station's fate. "MirCorp is aware of conflicting statements made today on Mir's future by a Russian official who was traveling outside of the country, and MirCorp plans to fully brief Russia's senior government personnel on its plans for Mirs continued commercial use," the company said in a statement released late Tuesday.
MirCorp's primary Western investors, entrepreneurs Walt Anderson and Chirinjeev Kathuria, expressed their optimism about Mir's future. "The long-term business prospects for Mir are extremely positive, and both Walt and I will continue to fund MirCorp's operations," Kathuria said.
However, difficulties raising funds have forced the company to make some changes to its schedule of future trips to the orbiting outpost. Rather than two long-term missions to Mir in the first half of 2001, the company is currently planning on a single two-week trip to the station, which will include Dennis Tito, the first "citizen explorer," or commercial space tourist.
MirCorp also has a deal with Mark Burnett, producer of the successful Survivor television series this summer, to send the winner of a similar show to the space station on a future flight. Burnett has since inked a deal with NBC to air the show, titled Destination Mir, in the 2001-02 TV season.
Mir's deteriorating orbit has also become a concern.
MirCorp president Jeffrey Manber told AviationNow last month that the station's orbit was decaying faster than expected because high solar activity was heating and expanding Earth's upper atmosphere, increasing the drag on the station. Manber said additional Progress flights may be necessary to keep the outpost in orbit, raising questions whether MirCorp has the resources to pay for those flights. It also cast doubt on whether Energia -- the Russian company that builds Progress spacecraft, as well as operates Mir -- has the resources to build enough Progress vehicles to both sustain Mir and support the soon-to-be-occupied International Space Station.
If Russia does decide to bring down Mir, it would require one or more additional Progress flights carrying the propellant needed to lower the station's orbit in a controlled manner. Russia would likely reenter the station over an uninhabited region of the south Pacific Ocean.
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