RUSSIAN SPACE PROGRAM HURT BY MONEY SHORTAGE
JAY RESPLER (jrespler@InJersey.com)
Sun, 3 Aug 1997 04:56:56 -0400 (EDT)
This is an excerpt of the news that I've been sending to those that
request it. I was particularly surprised to see that sync sats are
being left to pollute that very narrow orbit band. Can't the
international community force them to keep that area clear?
How long until one of those dead sats collides and destroys some working
sync sat?
--------------------------------
The results of the monetary squeeze are apparent even in the
secretive military Russian space program. In May, the Russians
successfully launched a photo-reconnaissance satellite. Until that
launching, the Russians had not had one in orbit for almost eight
months, the longest gap since 1962.
In the civilian realm, the Russians have stopped maneuvering their
communication satellites out of geosynchronous orbits as they near
the end of their useful life, a standard practice to reduce the
problem of space junk. Now they push the satellites to the limit
and allow them to die in orbit.
_________________________________________________________________
Jay Respler
--
Details of how to get on the Satellite Observer Mail List, elements, prediction
programs and other satellite information, at the Visual Satellite Observers
Home Page: http://www2.plasma.mpe-garching.mpg.de/sat/satintro.html
--
JRespler@InJersey.com
Satellite Tracker * Early Typewriter Collector
Freehold, New Jersey