to space orbit

military space
Yesterday evening, a Soyuz-U launch vehicle was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which launched the Neman optical-electronic reconnaissance satellite into low-Earth orbit. If there are no problems with the operation of the device, the United States, Africa, Southern Europe and Asia, as well as Australia will be under the control of Russian satellite strategic intelligence. In addition, the spacecraft will be able to see the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans.
Before the launch of Neman, Russian satellite reconnaissance capabilities were based exclusively on data received from the Araks heavy optical-electronic reconnaissance spacecraft (it was launched from Baikonur by the Proton-K carrier at the end of July last year). Three days after the launch of the Neman, testing of its systems should be completed, and if they prove to be operational, the military will begin operating the device, which can last at least a year (this warranty period for the Neman is given by the manufacturer - the State Scientific and Production Rocketry -space center "TSSKB-Progress" in Samara).
To quickly transmit intelligence information from the Neman and Araks satellites to Earth, the Ministry of Defense uses the Geyser geostationary repeater (it was launched in the summer of 2000), which is part of the Potok data transmission system. This scheme allows you to receive information from orbit in almost real time. The satellites will fly over the United States, Africa, Southern Europe and Asia, as well as Australia. In addition, the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans will be in their field of vision.
Work on "Araks" and "Neman" (they also have the designations 11F664 and "Yantar-4KS1M") began 20 years ago at the Lavochkin NPO (Khimki) and TsSKB-Progress (Samara), respectively. Their testing should have begun back in 1987. However, the time frame for creating the devices was delayed. The Samara enterprise, although it had experience in creating spy satellites and the necessary production base, was busy with work on the Energia-Buran project. And the shop workers, who first began creating an optical-electronic reconnaissance satellite, encountered technical difficulties. After the collapse of the USSR, these works were frozen due to lack of funds.
The complete absence of optical observation satellites in orbit forced the Ministry of Defense to finance the development of the Araks. The first such device was launched in June 1997 (although it only worked for four months). Meanwhile, TsSKB-Progress completed work on Neman. Now both enterprises hope to convince the Ministry of Defense of the need to include their developments in the state defense order for next year. It is unclear which satellite the military will prefer. The fact is that Neman costs about 20 million rubles. and launches on a Soyuz-U launch vehicle; Araks is five times more expensive and is launched on Proton, which, in turn, is three times more expensive than Soyuz-U. But Araks can operate in orbit for up to three years, while Neman can operate for only a year. So the final decision of the Ministry of Defense will largely depend on how Araks and Neman perform in orbit.
IVAN Kommersant-SAFRONOV

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 143 dated 08/13/2003, p. 3

Authors:

Ivan Safronov

Themes:

Spy satellites

The Ministry of Defense sent another spy