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SHORTHAND REPORT ON
THE TELECAST 'GOOD AFTERNOON'
held on February 2nd 2001 on the ORT channel l |
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Announcer is Alexander Strizhenov.
Announcer:
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Let's continue our talk about the Mir orbital station.
At first we did not expect that there would be such
a ready response to this subject, a keen interest
shown in it. As a matter of fact, the discussion we
had at our Internet site (our E-mail) involved those
from 98 countries who are not indifferent to the station.
During our today's coverage we shall be receiving
your comments and options at our Internet site www.ortv.ru,
our phones in the studio are 215-19-68 and 215-14-47.
Ask your questions to us our quests. We would like
to know what your opinions are about the Mir station.
Of no less importance to us are your considerations
concerning our participation in the International
Space Station and the future of our cosmonautics as
a whole. So I wish to remind you in brief of the heated
discussion held in our studio on Wednesday when we
started it.
It is already as many as 70% of those who sent us
their opinions to our Internet site are sorry about
the Mir station. Let me introduce the guests of our
today's coverage, participants of our talk to you.
These are Vladimir Alexandrovich Solovyov, Flight
Director of Manned Space Complexes; Nikolai Apollonovich
Anfimov, Director of Rosaviakosmos TsNII Machinebuilding;
Gennady Viktorovich Malyshev, Doctor of Sciences,
MAI Professor; Edward Viktorovich Alexeyev, Doctor
of Sciences, Honoured Scientist of the Russian Federation.
First of all, I would like to ask the following question.
Is that right that since our latest broadcast on Wednesday
when the Mir station started falling, it has descended
by another 900 m over the period of two days passed?
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| Anfimov:
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It starts
falling immediately after being injected into orbit
and flying at such a high altitude. Sometimes it descends
by 200 m a day, in some cases it falls by 400, 500 m.
So it is a normal process. |
| Announcer: |
It is not
for the first time that we reboosted the Mir station
to raise its orbit. |
| Solovyov:
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Throughout
the whole 15-year period we maintained regularly its
specific orbit. |
| Announcer: |
Why did
you all of a sudden decide against maintaining the Mir
station on orbit? Give me each your opinion once again
and in brief. Why don't we need the Mir station anymore
in 2001, when the 3rd Millennium starts? |
| Solovyov:
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Well, I would not put
the question in the sense that the station is not needed
any longer. Unfortunately, any technology becomes obsolete,
it is a matter of common knowledge. Any equipment can,
in principle, be reclaimed. An interesting question
arises in this connection: how much will this refurbishment
cost or, perhaps, it would be more reasonable to reevaluate
its cost, design a brand-new equipment and operate it
at higher efficiency? You see, it might be possible
to maintain somehow the Mir station in a decent state,
for example, remove the core module, replace it with
a new one by investing enormous sums of money, billions
of roubles, hundreds of millions US dollars in this
undertaking. But the question arises: Is there any sense
in it, whether it is advisable, is it a paying business?
It is my understanding that all space explorations are
aimed at making mankind's life easier and better, aren't
they? |
| Announcer: |
It is obvious that the
decision has been made and the station splashdown will
be implemented. In this connection, I want all our TV
viewers and myself to change our attitude to this event,
because the Mir station over the 15 years of its existence
has become a sort of symbol for us, a symbol of statehood,
respect for the country, power and we abandon this symbol.
As You dwell upon the reasons for the station splashdown
during the entire broadcast, I will receive calls from
our TV viewers if possible. Long-distance call. Good
afternoon! You are on the air. What would you like to
tell our guests? |
| TV viewer: |
Hello! It is Dmitry
from Uglich calling. I watch with keen interest you
talking on this subject. On the whole, I would like
to find out if this talks on the air will lead to any
results? Is it possible to save the station? Is there
anything that could be done about it? Thank you. |
| Announcer: |
Answer the question?
Can the talks bring to any result? In my understanding,
the result means being aware of what is happening and
why it is happening. Perhaps, the TV viewers means something
else by it? |
| Alexeyev:
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I'll tell
you what. You know, it is the second governmental decision
on the Mir station splashdown. The first decision was
taken back in 1998; in May 1998 the Mir station was
to be destroyed. But the public opinion was formed against
it, just what you mentioned now. It was natural. Also
Yuri Pavlovich Semenov, General Designer, stood his
ground saying that it was not reasonable to destroy
the Mir station, that the station could operate until
it reached a 15-year service life. And the objective
confirming that the manned stations could really exist
at least 15 years was understandable. Is the situation
any different now? With the public support available,
time is practically lost. Both General Designer and
RSC Energia realize that the situation cannot be improved,
because there is no financial backup in the amount sufficient
to provide a normal financing process. If this annual
financing was approved and 1.5 bn roubles were appropriated
to save the Mir station as was earlier foreseen, then,
I think, this question would not be opened today. |
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Announcer:
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We say that the time is lost,
but imply the money. Have we lost the time regarding
engineering capabilities? My question to You is the
following: Have the Mir station passed that critical
point following which it would be impossible to boost
it into higher orbit, even if an enormous sum of money
was found as if with a wave of a wand? And we would
say: 'Yes, we shall invest again in this station'. I
know that you worked on such a program and you did the
corresponding calculations. |
| Malyshev:
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The point
is that it is not without reason that the two decisions
were taken. Maybe the first decision was not well thought
out, the second decision was taken. I think that the
third one is possible. Now let's move on to the engineering
capabilities. The cargo vehicle, which is injected into
orbit, instead of braking the station could raise its
orbit so high that station would be able to exist another
half a year. During this a half-year period we could
solve the problem of using stationary plasma engines
or any other technology. We can offer now about seven
various technologies for this purpose. There are some
of them, which have not been employed even at the International
Space Station. I mean that the time is not lost yet.
The only thing we need is to have enough courage to
turn a plane by 180°' as our politician Yevgeny Maximovich
Primakov did. It is not too late to do it. Next I think
that there are an awfully lot of politics, stir about
it. Let us suppose that the station lost attitude control.
The Flight Director says: 'We did so-and-so, therefore,
the problem seems to have been solved.' Then next, even
more responsible person takes the floor. He says: 'The
station lost control.' And makes no comment. Everybody
is under the impression that nobody knows what to do. |
| Announcer: |
Did you hear the comments?
Has the station ever lost attitude control before? |
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