The Znamya project (Russian: Знамя, meaning "Banner") was a series of orbital space mirror experiments in the 1990s that intended to beam solar power to Earth by reflecting sunlight. It consisted of two experiments: the Znamya 2 experiment and the failed Znamya 2.5, plus with the proposed Znamya 3. The project was abandoned by the Russian Federal Space Agency after the failed deployment of the Znamya 2.5.
The Znamya 2 was a 20-metre wide space solar mirror. Znamya-2 was launched aboard Progress M-15 from Baikonur on 27 October 1992. After visiting the EO-12 crew aboard the Mirspace station the Progress T-15 then undocked and deployed the reflector from the end of the Russian Progress spacecraft on 4 February 1993, next to the Russian Mir space station. The mirror deployed successfully, and, when illuminated, produced a 5 km wide bright spot, which traversed Europe from southern France to western Russia at a speed of 8 km/s.[1] The bright spot had a luminosity equivalent to approximately that of a full moon.[2] Although clouds covered much of Europe that morning, a few ground observers reported seeing a flash of light as the beam swept by.[3]
Znamya 2
The mirror was de-orbited after several hours and burned up in atmospheric reentry over Canada.[4][5]
The Znamya mirror had originally been designed as a prototype of a solar sail propulsion system,[3] but was repurposed as a space mirror for illumination when interest in solar sails flagged.
Znamya 2.5edit
The Znamya 2.5 was a successor to the Znamya 2, which was deployed on 5 February 1999. It had a diameter of 25 m, and was expected to produce a bright spot 7 km in diameter, with luminosity between five and ten full moons. However, soon after deployment, the mirror caught on an antenna on the Progress, and ripped. After several vain attempts by Russian mission control to free the mirror from the antenna, the Znamya 2.5 was de-orbited, and burned up upon reentry.[6][2][7]
Znamya 3edit
The Znamya 3 was intended to be a scaled-up version of the previous two Znamyas, with a diameter of 60–70 metres. It was never built, as the project was abandoned after the failure of the Znamya 2.5.[1]
Referencesedit
^ ab, space-frontier.org, 5 February 1999 (archived)
^ ab"Space Mirror". The Triz Journal. 15 June 2002. from the original on 18 October 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
^ abTim Folger, "New moon – Russian satellite acts as a mirror to light remote areas", Discover, Jan, 1994 (web version 20 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine, (Retrieved 29 August 2008)).
^Wade, Mark. . Encyclopedia Astronautica. Mark Wade. Archived from the original on 17 February 2004. Retrieved 25 February 2007.
^Znamya - what went wrong? 8 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News 5 February 1999
^Wade, Mark. . Encyclopedia Astronautica. Mark Wade. Archived from the original on 3 June 2006. Retrieved 25 February 2007.
External linksedit
"Space Mirror, N.Shpakovsky.
January 01, 1970
znamya, satellite, znamya, project, russian, Знамя, meaning, banner, series, orbital, space, mirror, experiments, 1990s, that, intended, beam, solar, power, earth, reflecting, sunlight, consisted, experiments, znamya, experiment, failed, znamya, plus, with, pr. The Znamya project Russian Znamya meaning Banner was a series of orbital space mirror experiments in the 1990s that intended to beam solar power to Earth by reflecting sunlight It consisted of two experiments the Znamya 2 experiment and the failed Znamya 2 5 plus with the proposed Znamya 3 The project was abandoned by the Russian Federal Space Agency after the failed deployment of the Znamya 2 5 Contents 1 Znamya 2 2 Znamya 2 5 3 Znamya 3 4 References 5 External linksZnamya 2 editThe Znamya 2 was a 20 metre wide space solar mirror Znamya 2 was launched aboard Progress M 15 from Baikonur on 27 October 1992 After visiting the EO 12 crew aboard the Mir space station the Progress T 15 then undocked and deployed the reflector from the end of the Russian Progress spacecraft on 4 February 1993 next to the Russian Mir space station The mirror deployed successfully and when illuminated produced a 5 km wide bright spot which traversed Europe from southern France to western Russia at a speed of 8 km s 1 The bright spot had a luminosity equivalent to approximately that of a full moon 2 Although clouds covered much of Europe that morning a few ground observers reported seeing a flash of light as the beam swept by 3 nbsp Znamya 2 The mirror was de orbited after several hours and burned up in atmospheric reentry over Canada 4 5 The Znamya mirror had originally been designed as a prototype of a solar sail propulsion system 3 but was repurposed as a space mirror for illumination when interest in solar sails flagged Znamya 2 5 editThe Znamya 2 5 was a successor to the Znamya 2 which was deployed on 5 February 1999 It had a diameter of 25 m and was expected to produce a bright spot 7 km in diameter with luminosity between five and ten full moons However soon after deployment the mirror caught on an antenna on the Progress and ripped After several vain attempts by Russian mission control to free the mirror from the antenna the Znamya 2 5 was de orbited and burned up upon reentry 6 2 7 Znamya 3 editThe Znamya 3 was intended to be a scaled up version of the previous two Znamyas with a diameter of 60 70 metres It was never built as the project was abandoned after the failure of the Znamya 2 5 1 References edit a b Znamya Space Mirror space frontier org 5 February 1999 archived a b Space Mirror The Triz Journal 15 June 2002 Archived from the original on 18 October 2017 Retrieved 17 October 2017 a b Tim Folger New moon Russian satellite acts as a mirror to light remote areas Discover Jan 1994 web version Archived 20 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 29 August 2008 McDowell Jonathan 10 February 1993 Jonathan s Space Report No 143 Mir Jonathan s Space Report Jonathan McDowell Archived from the original on 6 December 2012 Retrieved 25 February 2007 Wade Mark Mir EO 12 Encyclopedia Astronautica Mark Wade Archived from the original on 17 February 2004 Retrieved 25 February 2007 Znamya what went wrong Archived 8 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine BBC News 5 February 1999 Wade Mark Mir News 453 Znamya 2 5 Encyclopedia Astronautica Mark Wade Archived from the original on 3 June 2006 Retrieved 25 February 2007 External links edit Space Mirror N Shpakovsky Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Znamya satellite amp oldid 1222080386, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
