DUSHANBE, November 4, 2009, Asia-Plus — To modernize space-surveillance system Russia has worked out a program for development of the optical-electronic space monitoring center (also called “Okno” or “Window”) in Nurek, Tajikistan, press service of Russia’s Defense Minister reported.
Under this program, a number of other telescopes will be installed at the center and its television facilities of detection and computers will be replaced with up-to-date analogues until 2012 that will allow controlling the whole diapason of altitudes of orbits of extraterrestrial objects and the center’s opportunities will increase by some 50 percent, the press service said.
A number of new optical, radio-technical and radar aids allowing extending informational opportunities of the center will be created within the next few years.
We will recall that Russia wrote off US$250 million of Tajik debt in exchange fro the space-surveillance center in Nurek.
According to Russian specialist, the space-surveillance center in Nurek is one of Russia”s most valuable facilities abroad. Located at the height of 2,200 meters above sea level, the center makes effective space monitoring possible, primarily in high elliptical and geostationary orbits (GEO).
The geostationary satellite rotates at the same speed as the planet in a fixed position in relation to the Earth. This is perfect for maintaining round-the-clock communications, strategic radio and radio-technical surveillance, and identification of ballistic missile launches. The military prefer geostationary satellites because they cannot be blocked.
The Nurek center functions as the eyes of the space forces. This optical system for monitoring space looks like a canon with a short barrel. The system has ten 41-ton “canons” packed with electronics. There will be four more. Its operation is fully automated, starting from the identification of objects at the altitudes of 2,000-40,000 kilometers and above, to collection of information on coordinates and other photometry, calculation of movement parameters, and transfer of the processed data to the command posts. The sunlight reflected by a space vehicle is a source of information about it, up to the minute details of its design, and, hence, designation.
The Nurek center also monitors low-orbit space vehicles at an altitude of 120-2,000 kilometers.
In many respects the potentialities of the system are determined by its unique location. The weather in this mountainous region is ideal for observations throughout the year. In terms of night time observations (about 1,500 hours a year) and its astro-climate (transparency and stability of the atmosphere), the location of the Nurek center is comparable to the Cerro Tololo Mountain in Chile, and has indisputable advantages over any other region.
The Americans have four similar systems along the equator at even distances — in the United States, Diego Garcia, South Korea, and Hawaii — but none of these areas has as many clear days per year as Nurek.
The Nurek center can also perform tasks for civilian space agencies related to the testing and use of domestic high-orbit space satellites of scientific and socio-economic designation. It is especially useful in emergencies, such as a “loss” of a space vehicle, or failures of orbital systems when it becomes impossible to assess the technical condition of their controls.
The center may be also used for the ecological monitoring of space, namely of “space garbage” – small objects which pose a threat for space vehicles, particularly during manned flights.
The construction of the Nurek center started in 1979, but the financing was suspended in 1992 when the situation in Tajikistan deteriorated. It was resumed in 1997, and since the summer of 2002 the center has been on a test standby alert. During his visit to Dushanbe in October 2004, the then Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the documents securing Russia”s ownership of the center located in Tajikistan.
