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Space


Salyut-8/Mir Remote Sensing Operations

By Marcia S. Smith, Formerly with the, Science Policy Research Division of the Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service

1981-1987

Mir REMOTE SENSING OF THE EARTH AND ITS OCEANS

Remote sensing observations continued to be an important part of the experiments performed on Mir despite the absence of the MKF-6M camera which had been the hallmark of the Salyut 6 and 7 stations. Early in 1987, Progress 28 spacecraft delivered a KATE- 140 camera "which has already been used in orbit." 60 This was an intriguing statement since the Soviets had previously announced that they had brought the KATE-140 camera over from Salyut 7. The new statement suggested that the Soyuz T-15 crew had re­ turned the instrument to Earth with them, and it had then been re-launched on Progress 28. No easy explanation for this is avail­ able, since if the camera had broken, it presumably could have been repaired on orbit.

Another camera on Mir, is called Sevor (North) which can take pictures at an angle rather than looking directly below the station. The images "come out in sharper relief with a distinct border be­ tween light and shade." The images from Sevor were superimposed with images from the KATE-140 topographic camera of the same area. 61

Al-Furat (Euphrates)

The Euphrates observations were performed while the Syrian cosmonaut was aboard using KATE-140. The objective was to study artificial reservoirs and their drainage systems, water resources, and forests and farm land. 62 The crew observed the basin of the Euphrates River and the Syrian desert to study the Asad and Ba'th water reservoirs and Lake Qatin.

Geoeks-86 and Tele-Geo-87

Near the end of their mission to Mir, the Soyuz T-15 crew did observations called Geoeks-86 as part of same "Study of Geosystem Dynamics by Remote Methods" program mentioned on Salyut 7. 63 Observations were made of East Germany using Mir, Cosmos 1602, and airplanes. The data were to be used for monitoring the condi­tion of forests and farmland.

In July 1987, the Soyuz TM-2/TM-3 crew conducted remote sens­ing observations of Poland under the program Tele-Geo-87, while airplanes also took measurements. 64

 

References:

A. SOVIET SPACE PROGRAMS: 1981-87, PILOTED SPACE ACTIVITIES, LAUNCH VEHICLES, LAUNCH SITES, AND TRACKING SUPPORT PREPARED AT THE REQUEST OF Hon. ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, Chairman, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, UNITED STATES SENATE, Part 1, MAY 1988, printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON, D.C. 1988

60 Sotsialisticheskaya Industriya, March 7,1987, p. 1.

61 TASS, 1846 GMT, March 6, 1987.

62 Moscow Domestic Service, 1300 GMT, December 18, 1986.

63 Izvestiya, July 15,1986, p. 1.

64. TASS, 1302 GMT, July 17,1987.