Tim Furniss/LONDON
The Russian space industry's cash crisis has claimed another victim. Future manned Soyuz TM spacecraft will no longer be fitted with the Kurs S-band automatic docking system.
The spacecraft is a key part of the Russian manned space programme and is used to shuttle personnel and material to the Russian Mir 1 space station. It is also scheduled to be used to dock with the International Space Station.
Dockings will now have to be made manually by the Soyuz commanders, rather than automatically. The new procedures start with the next flight to the Mir 1, the Soyuz TM25, which itself has been delayed from 15 December to next February because of a shortage of Soyuz boosters.
The Kurs system is built by Radiopribor of Kiev, Ukraine, which has not been paid by Russia for equipment already delivered. The company has responded by delaying orders and supplying equipment missing vital parts.
The Kurs replaced the previous Igla system on later versions of the original Soyuz and new Soyuz T models which enabled cosmonauts to make an automatic approach to within 180m of the targets - the Salyut 6 and 7 space stations in 1980-5, before the commander took over manual control.
Before that, the original Soyuz craft relied on a similar system for dockings with the Salyut 1-5 stations, in 1971-6, many of which failed, resulting in emergency returns to Earth.
The TM's Kurs enables a fully automatic docking and one that allows the TM to approach the Mir at any angle, without the station having to expend on-board propellant rotating to a convenient alignment, as was necessary before. The system has, however, also failed several times, forcing the TM commander to complete the docking manually. All commanders are trained for manual docking.
The Kurs will remain fitted to the unmanned Progress M tanker craft, the next of which will be launched to the Mir on 20 November, on a flight which was delayed from mid-October by a shortage of a booster. Several TM missions have been delayed for the same reason.
The Russian Samara factory's output of Soyuz boosters has been reduced by a factor of ten since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991. Soyuz U2 boosters, flying with a more efficient, but expensive, Syntin propellant have already been grounded (Flight International, 2-8 October).
The Mir space station, meanwhile, is causing concern. Cosmonauts Valeri Korzun, Alexander Kaleri and NASA crewmember John Blaha are having to cope with an overworked, balky waste-management system.
The water-recycling system which supplies the station's cooling system has broken down. The crew is using reserve containers to store waste. A manual pump used to transfer water into the cooling system cannot be found.
The Progress M33, to be launched on 20 November, will be used to deliver more containers - as well as food, water and propellant - and, possibly, tools to repair damage.
Source: Flight International
