spektr

Image:Spektr - Mir module.png

The Spektr module was originally developed as part of a top-secret military program code-named "Oktant". It was planned to carry experiments with space-borne surveillance and test antimissile defense. The surveillance instruments were mounted on the exterior of the module opposite the docking port. Also in this location were two launchers for artificial targets. The heart of the Spektr payload was an experimental optical telescope code-named "Pion” (Peony).

Instrument list:

• 286K binocular radiometer
• Astra 2 – monitored atmospheric trace constituents, Mir environment
• Balkan 1 lidar – measures upper cloud altitude. Used a 5320-angstrom laser source, provided 4.5 m resolution
• EFO 2 photometer
• KOMZA – interstellar gas detector
• MIRAS absorption spectrometer – had to measure neutral atmospheric composition, but couldn't work due to a failure
• Phaza spectrometer – surface studies. Examined wavelengths between 0.340 and 285 micrometers, and provides 200 km resolution
• Taurus/Grif – monitored Mir's induced X/gamma-ray background
• VRIZ UV spectroradiometer

These experiments would have been a continuation of the research aboard a top-secret TKS-M module, which docked to Salyut 7 in 1985. However, with the end of the Cold War and the shrinking of Russia's space budget, the module was stuck on the ground.

In the mid-1990s with the return of US-Russian cooperation in space, NASA agreed to provide funds to complete the Spektr and Priroda modules in exchange for having 600 to 700 kg of US experiments installed. The Oktava military component was replaced with a conical mounting area for two additional solar arrays. The airlock for the Oktava targets to be used instead to expose experiments to the vacuum of space.

Once in orbit, Spektr served as the living quarters for American astronauts until the collision in late June 1997.

File:Mir collision damage STS086-720-091.JPG in September 1997. In this space rendezvous gone wrong, the Progress collided with Mir, beginning a depressurization that was halted by closing the hatch to Spektr. |alt=A gold-coloured solar array, bent and twisted out of shape and with several holes. The edge of a module can be seen to the right of the image, and Earth is visible in the background.]]

On June 25, 1997, the Progress M-34 spacecraft crashed into Spektr while doing an experimental docking maneuver with the Kvant-1 module.{{cite web|url=http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/content/numbers/154/01.shtml|publisher=Novosti Kosmonavtiki|script-title=ru:Россия. Полет орбитального комплекса "Мир"|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101017185347/http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/content/numbers/154/01.shtml|archivedate=17 October 2010|year=1997|language=Russian}} The collision damaged one of Spektr's solar arrays and punctured the hull, causing a relatively slow leak. The crew had enough time to install a hatch cover and seal the module off to prevent depressurization of the entire Mir station. To seal the module, the crew had to remove the cables that were routed through the (open) hatchway, including the power cables from Spektr's solar panels.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-36549109|title=Mir Spacecraft: Worst collision in the history of space flight|work=Witness|publisher=BBC News|author=Michael Foale|author-link=Michael Foale|date=2016-06-22}}

An internal spacewalk in the Spektr module in August 1997 by cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyov and Pavel Vinogradov, from Soyuz TM-26, succeeded in restoring these power connections by installing a modified hatch cover to allow the power cables to pass through the hatch when it was in the closed position.

In a second internal spacewalk in October they connected two of the panels to a computer system to allow the panels to be controlled remotely and align with the Sun. These modifications allowed power generation to return to approximately 70% of the pre-collision generation capability.{{cite web

|title = Take a Tour of Mir: Spektr

|publisher = WGBH Educational Foundation

|date = November 2000

|url = http://www.astronautix.com/craft/spektr.htm

|access-date = 2007-04-16

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070407052343/http://astronautix.com/craft/spektr.htm

|archive-date = 2007-04-07

}}

Spektr was left depressurized and isolated from the remainder of the Mir complex.

Image:Spektr before collision - cropped.jpg|Overall view of Spektr before the collision, opposite angle

Image:Damaged Spektr solar array.jpg|Damaged Spektr solar array

Image:Damaged Spektr radiator.jpg|Damaged radiator on Spektr

Image:STS-79 p-060-low.jpg|Interior

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Spektr}}

{{Portal|Spaceflight}}

• [http://www.russianspaceweb.com/mir_spektr.html Spektr module (77KSO) on russianspaceweb.com], containing diagrams, pictures, and background information
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070407052343/http://astronautix.com/craft/spektr.htm Spektr on Encyclopedia Astronautica], with design history and equipment information
• [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/mir/spektr.html Take a Tour of Mir > Spektr] on PBS NOVA Online
• Gunter's Space Page – information on [http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/spektr.htm Spektr]

{{Mir modules}}

{{TKS spacecraft}}

{{Russian human spaceflight programs}}

{{Orbital launches in 1995}}

Category:Mir

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Category:Satellite collisions