Conference 7.286::space

Article: 7956
From: [email protected] (Reuters)
Newsgroups: clari.news.hot.ussr,clari.world.europe.eastern,clari.tw.space
Subject: Ukraine asks West to cooperate on space
Date: Tue, 15 Mar 94 11:00:30 PST
 
	 KIEV, March 15 (Reuter) - The head of Ukraine's space agency
appealed to the West on Tuesday to open the doors for full cooperation
on space research and construction in order to save its aeronautics
industry from collapse. 

	 Volodymyr Gorbulin said Ukrainian space officials were
disappointed that officials from the U.S. National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA) were refusing to discuss joint
construction at talks scheduled for next week in Kiev. 

	 He told a news conference the U.S. officials had ruled out
discussions because Ukraine had not yet signed international
agreements on proliferation of advanced rocket technology. 

	 ``This issue (construction) is the one we were primarily
interested in and has been excluded from the agenda of our meeting
with U.S. authorities,'' Gorbulin said. 

	 He said Ukraine's economic collapse had prompted 3,000
aerospace specialists to leave the country, where most of the former
Soviet Union's booster rockets were produced. 

	 ``They simply had too little to do,'' he said. ``Because of
illusions during the first year of independence, we lost time and we
were left out of the mainstream of the world space industry.'' 

	 Ukraine still produces the powerful ``Zenit'' launcher but
has been prevented from starting up a viable international business
because of a lack of appropriate legislation. 

	 Kiev emerged from months of international isolation in
January when its parliament removed conditions it attached to the
ratification of the START-1 disarmament treaty. 

	 Many of the 176 strategic nuclear missiles still deployed in
Ukraine were also produced in the former Soviet republic. 

Article: 54482
From: [email protected] (Allen Thomson)
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.tech,sci.astro
Subject: New Russian Earth Resources Satellite
Date: Thu, 17 Mar 1994 14:00:38 GMT
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
 
An interesting Russian space event seems to be coming up.
 
>From AWST, 14 March 1994, p.81
 
"The first prototype Safir [German minicomsat] will be launched
mounted to a Russian Resource Earth imaging satellite that is to be
orbited this May or June by a Ukrainian produced Zenith [SL-16] rocket." 
 
Two things about this are noteworthy:
 
- This will be the first non-military operational flight of Zenit, which 
  to date has only been used to orbit heavy ELINT satellites of the 
  Cosmos 1603 class.
 
- The Resurs satellite mentioned may the totally new design described by the 
  Soviets a few years ago and which appeared in Nick Johnson's Soviet Year in 
  Space, 1989, pp. 50 & 60.  It will carry a wide variety of instruments 
  including radar, visible light cameras, IR and microwave radiometers, etc. 
  This platform, like the Zenit, appears to be a product of NPO Yuzhnoye 
  in Dnepropetrovsk, making this an all-Ukrainian flight (except for the 
  German satellite and Russian RD-170 engine, of course).
 
  Resurs should be a good target for satellite watchers, as its basic
  dimensions are 3x10 meters, plus solar panels.

From:	US3RMC::"[email protected]" "Phillip Clark" 17-SEP-1994 
To:	[email protected]
CC:	
Subj:	Zenit-2 Launches Photoreconnaissance Satellite

The Russian launch of Cosmos 2290 at midday GMT on August 26th appears
to be introducing a new generation of photoreconnaissance satellite to
the Russian space programme.

The Cosmos was launched using a Zenit-2 vehicle into a 64.81 degrees,
89.55 minutes, 212-293 km orbit.   The satellite's orbit began the
process of slow decay until September 5, by which time it was in a
208-280 km orbit.   During September 5-6 the satellite raised its
orbit to 209-348 km - the first satellite launched on a Zenit to
display a manoeuvre capability.

The introduction of the Zenit to the photoreconnaissance satellite
programme has been long-predicted and the vehicle's payload capability
of 13-14 tonnes to low Earth orbit will permit a satellite with a
similar mass to the US Big Bird and KH-11 satellites to be launched.
All previous Russian photoreconnaissance satellites have used the
Vostok and Soyuz launch vehicles.

It is tempting to draw a parallel between Cosmos 2290 the three
flights in 1986-1987, also launched into low orbits at 64.8 degrees:
Cosmos 1767, Cosmos 1820 and Cosmos 1873.   Such a parallel might be
dangerous because of the launch time difference (08.20-08.30 GMT
compared with midday for Cosmos 2290) and the lower altitude regimes
of the three earlier satellites.   The 1986-1987 flights apparently
did nothing but decay from orbit.   It is, of course, possible that
these were failed missions and budgetary cutbacks have meant that it
has taken seven years to fly an improved version of the payload.

===========================================================================
|  Phillip S Clark                        e-mail:  [email protected]   |
|  Molniya Space Consultancy                   Tel/fax: +44 81 570 3248   |
|  Compiler: Worldwide Satellite Launches                                 |
|  For list of publications finger [email protected] (not e-mail) |
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