Almaz

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Line drawing of an Almaz space station

The Almaz (Russian: Алмаз, "Diamond") program was a series of secret military reconnaissance space stations launched by the Soviet Union under the cover of the civilian Salyut program between 1971 and 1974. A total of three Almaz stations were launched: Salyut 2, Salyut 3 and Salyut 5. The program was also known internally as OPS (Russian: ОПС), from "Orbital Piloted Station" (Russian: Орбитальная Пилотируемая Станция).

Salyut 2 failed shortly after achieving orbit, but Salyut 3 and Salyut 5 both conducted successful manned testing. Following Salyut 5, the Soviet Ministry of Defence judged in 1978 that the time consumed by station maintenance outweighed the benefits relative to automatic reconnaissance satellites.

Development

Almaz was promoted by Vladimir Chelomei as a response to the USAF's Manned Orbiting Laboratory project (MOL). Like its counterpart, the Almaz OPS would be launched with its initial crew atop Chelomei's UR-500 Proton rocket. After an extended stay of 30 to 60 days of military observation and photography the crew would return to Earth by way of a reusable Return Vehicle (VA).^{[citation needed]}

Unlike the American MOL design, the Almaz was equipped with a docking port for subsequent crews. These crews would arrive in manned TKS, also launched by the UR-500. And just like Almaz OPS, the TKS was equipped with its own return vehicle.^{[citation needed]}

Defense measures

In addition to reconnaissance equipment, Almaz was equipped with a 23mm Nudelman rapid-fire cannon mounted on the forward belly of the station.^{[1][2][Need quotation to verify]} This self-lubricating cannon was modified from the tail-gun of the Tu-22 bomber and was capable of a theoretical rate of fire of 850 rounds per minute. Each 200 gram projectile flew at a speed of 690 m/s relative to the station.^{[3][4][Need quotation to verify]} To aim the cannon, which was in a fixed mounting, the entire station would be turned to face the threat.^{[citation needed]}

Salyut 3/OPS-2 conducted a successful test firing on a target satellite remotely with the station unmanned due to concerns over excessive vibration and noise.

OPS-4 was to have featured two unguided missiles instead of the aircraft cannon, but this system has not been shown publicly and may have never been fully manufactured despite it being used experimentally.

Orbital Piloted Stations (OPS)

The OPS basic design features are 4.15 meters in diameter and a weight of 20 tonnes. From 1965 to 1970, eight test models and two flight ready spaceframes were built. Five missions were executed with two considered a success. Total time spent in space in the program was 81 days.^[5]

OPS-1 (Salyut 2)

The first Almaz station (OPS-1 or Almaz 101.1), announced as Salyut 2, it was launched on April 3, 1973. For purposes of military secrecy, it was publicly designated Salyut 2 upon reaching orbit. A crew was prepared to fly to the station but an accident days after the launch left OPS-1 disabled and depressurized.^{[citation needed]}

OPS-2 (Salyut 3)

OPS-2 (or Almaz 101.2), announced as Salyut 3, was launched on June 25, 1974. The crew of the Soyuz 14 spacecraft spent 15 days aboard the station in July 1974. A second expedition was launched toward OPS-2 in August 1974, but failed to reach the station. The station successfully remotely test-fired an onboard aircraft cannon at a target satellite while the station was unmanned. Salyut-3 was deorbited in January 1975.^[5]

OPS-3 (Salyut 5)

OPS-3 (or Almaz 103), announced after launch as Salyut 5, entered orbit on June 22, 1976. It was visited by two crews in the summer of 1976 and winter of 1977.

OPS-4

The next Almaz station, OPS-4, was to be the first station launched with a three panel Mech-A Synthetic Aperture Radar and a manned reusable Return Vehicle VA, however the VA was replaced by a second TKS docking port. This station's Shchit-1 23 mm defense cannon was also to be replaced with an advanced Shchit-2 space-to-space cannon. The Shchit-2 was reported to be a two projectile system, although no photographs of it have ever been published and it does not appear that this system was ever installed on the station. OPS-4 was grounded when the Almaz manned program was cancelled.

Almaz-T (unmanned)

Almaz radar satellite (based on Almaz space station).

Following cancellation of the program, the Almaz station was reconfigured as an unmanned heavy radar-carrying reconnaissance satellite. Three such satellites were launched, two of which functioned successfully in orbit.

Almaz-T

• Almaz-T - The first Almaz-T blasted off from Baikonur on October 29, 1986. It did not reach orbit due to the failure of the first and second stages of the Proton launcher to separate. The safety system then destroyed the vehicle.

Kosmos 1870

• Kosmos 1870 - On July 25, 1987, the second Almaz-T spacecraft successfully reached orbit with an inclination 71.92 degrees toward the Equator and it was officially identified as Cosmos-1870. The spacecraft functioned for two years, providing radar imagery with a resolution down to 25 meters, until it was deorbited on July 30, 1989.

Almaz-1

• Almaz-1 - The third Almaz-T spacecraft was launched on March 31, 1991 under the name Almaz-1. After the launch a failure of the communications antenna designed to downlink the imagery via the Luch relay satellite was noted. Also one of the solar panels failed to deploy completely, leaving the main radar panel of the spacecraft partially blocked. After 18 months of successful work the Almaz-1 was deorbited on October 17, 1992 over the Pacific Ocean.

Almaz-2

• Almaz-2 (Almaz-1V) - Not flown. It had a new radar which would have provided a resolution of 5 to 7 meters. In addition, an optical-electronic payload on the station would have been capable of producing imagery with a resolution of 2.5 – 4 meters.

Heritage

The OPS spaceframes formed the basis of the Salyut,^[6] Mir and ISS space station base modules.

Currently, the private spaceflight company Excalibur Almaz has four space capsules derived from the TKS Return capsule, one will be used in support of space tourism while the other three capsules will be reserved for scientific and commercial payloads.

See also

• TKS, the resupply craft developed for Almaz and Salyut

Notes and references

External links

• The Almaz Program, RussianSpaceWeb.com
• Almaz, Encyclopedia Astronautica
• The Almaz Space Station Program, Sven Grahn
• Mir Hardware Heritage (NASA Reference Publication 1357), David Portree
• Astrospies, an episode of Nova covering the MOL and Almaz (full video available on PBS.com
• Inside a Soviet Spy Station, NOVA Short

v t e Almaz program Manned stations Salyut 2 (OPS-1) Salyut 3 (OPS-2) Salyut 5 (OPS-3) OPS-4 (not flown) Unmanned satellites Almaz-T Kosmos 1870 Almaz 1 Almaz 2 (not flown) See also: TKS spacecraft Salyut programme Excalibur Almaz

v t e Salyut program Salyut stations (DOS) Salyut 1 (DOS-1) DOS-2 Kosmos 557 (DOS-3) Salyut 4 (DOS-4) Salyut 6 (DOS-5) Salyut 7 (DOS-6) Spaceflight portal Almaz stations (OPS) Salyut 2 (OPS-1) Salyut 3 (OPS-2) Salyut 5 (OPS-3) OPS-4 (not flown) Successors Mir (DOS-7) Zvezda (DOS-8) TKS spacecraft Kosmos 1267 (TKS-2) Kosmos 1443 (TKS-3) Kosmos 1686 (TKS-4) Support craft Soyuz Progress Lists Expeditions Spaceflights (manned unmanned) Visitors Spacewalks