When the Soviet Union began to assemble the Mir Space Station in orbit in 1986, those responsible for the project estimated that this ambitious and complex structure would have a five year useful life. But the Eurasian nation had a firm goal of maintaining its presence in space for much longer. The solution, according to the File Russian State Scientific and Technical Documentation Department (RGANTD), consisted of building a replacement space station called Mir-2.
It was a new generation orbital laboratory, albeit rather modest and based on many of the technologies already developed for the Soviet space program. However, collects astronautixeverything initially planned for the Mir-2 changed with the announcement of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) promoted by Roland Reagan at the end of the 1980s. The United States has just formalized an important movement that contemplated putting military assets in space.
A project with many ideas and twists
In the absence of changes to the plans, the concept of the KB Salyut Design Bureau would have likely prospered. Photographs of the original documents point out that the Mir-2 would have had four modules of 70 tonss and 330 cubic meters each. At the energy supply level, the installation of four extended solar panels capable of generating up to 30 kW was contemplated. The structure would be located at 65º about 300 or 450 kilometers from the earth’s surface.
To take all the modules to orbit, the USSR would be forced to resort to a cargo variant of the Energía launch system designed for the Burán Space Shuttle. Let’s remember that until then the Soviets had relied mainly on their Proton system, which had been very effective, but could carry a maximum payload of 20 tons. The successor to the failed N1 system promised to raise the aforementioned limit to 80 tons.
Mir-2 concept
In any case, the concepts of the NPO Energy Design Office came into play. Unlike what was devised previously, here it was prioritized the idea of sending into space a single module of 84 tons. It would be located in orbit about 400 kilometers from Earth at an angle of 97º, which would provide a strategic observation advantage. Despite being smaller, it would make a significant leap in the level of size and distribution of solar panels, allowing them to supply up to 50 kW of energy.
Zvezda module diagram
As the project faced numerous political, technical and economic challenges, NPO energy submitted several more projects. For example, from the use of the 20-ton DOS-8 (17KS No. 128) module to build a 120-ton station to the launch of modules of more than 80 tons to assemble a space station of about 500 tons and enormous dimensions.
Zvezda on the ISS
The truth is that within the borders of the Soviet Union there were complex times. The Mir-2 had been conceived with the existence of the Burán Shuttle in mind, but after the fall of the ussr, the program of that advanced reusable spacecraft ended up being forgotten along with the Energy launch system. Russia later refused to abandon the project and devised numerous alternatives to build the successor to the Mir with the available space transportation resources.
The crew of STS 135 in the Zvezda module
With the passage of time, the project was dissolving, even the idea of developing the Mir-1.5 was proposed, a project halfway between the Mir and the Mir-2, which did not prosper either. But the central module that had been developed as the axis of the project, DOS-8 (practically identical to MIR’s DOS-7), was in an important stage of development: the structure had been completed in 1985 and the installation of components inmates in 1986.
In parallel, the United States was planning the development of the Spacial station Freedom in collaboration with space agencies of other countries such as the European Space Agency (ESA), the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). By 1993, Russia joined that project that was renamed the International Space Station (ISS). Thus, module DOS-8 was renamed Zvezda and destined for the ISS.
On July 12, 2000, a Proton rocket launched Zvezda into orbit, which became the third module of the new space station, and the one in charge of providing the life support systems and habitat for several astronauts. Plus, of course, docking ports and crew transfer spaces. academy-labfurther notes that the module is also home to the high-gain Lira antenna used to establish communications with Earth.
In Xataka: Uranus’s moons hold secret oceans. And we know it thanks to data from 40 years ago
