Last June Russia launched a 15-year old US-PU Legend (or
Legenda) ocean surveillance satellite, which failed to activate one
of its two solar batteries.
Could this mean all the Russian ocean surveillance satellites
currently in the orbit are as old as this Cosmos 2421?
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http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?id=687139
July 03, 2006
Spying Satellite Fails Mission
Launched to orbit June 25, the Legend satellite of offshore
electronic reconnaissance has failed so far to get down to
performing the tasks. Of two solar batteries, one didn't open and
the satellite lacks power to activate devices of surveillance and
target indication.
It was the U.S. Space Command that first reported problems of
Russia's US-PU satellite. Though
the RF Defense Ministry, Russia's Space Agency (Roskosmos) and
Space Forces declined to comment, a source with the General Naval
Staff said Saturday that Cosmos-2421 [US-PU got this name after
delivery into the orbit] really has problems, which are currently
tackled by experts.
The satellite spent past week in maneuvers, attempting to open the
second battery. All efforts proved fruitless, the source said, but
Arsenal Design Bureau that developed the satellite still hopes to
remove trouble.
But the military don't share optimism of producers, the more so
that the satellite was
made 15 years ago and kept in the
stockpile till the launch. Besides, Arsenal has troubles not
only with US-PU but also with a new Liana, which is expected to
replace Legend.
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Cheers,
Sunho