Posted on 05/01/2010 12:13:43 AM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The Polyus military testbed was put together on a crash basis as an answer to America's Star Wars program. It was built around a surplus TKS manned spacecraft and was meant to test prototype ASAT and Star Wars defense systems. It failed to reach orbit, but it had succeeded, it would have been the core module of a new Mir-2 space station. Its mere presence could have decisively changed the shape of the Cold War in its final months.
In 1985, it became clear that the Energia launch vehicle would be ready for launch before the Buran space shuttle that was its intended payload. Therefore Ministry of General Machine Building (MOM) issued a resolution ordering the launch of Energia with a mock-up of a spacecraft in the 100 metric ton class. In July 1985 General Designer D A Polukhin called together his workers and noted that MOM Minister O D Baklanov had given them the assignment of producing a 100 metric ton 'functional mockup' satellite by September 1986. It would normally take five years to develop such a spacecraft, and they had only one year - therefore it would have to be greatly simplified. The systems in development for the next generation of spacecraft at that time consisted only of equipment items in test configuration. KB Salyut had a range of spacecraft in production, including the 20-metric ton TKS manned logistics vehicle. The Skif-D 100-metric ton space platform was only in the design and drawing stage. The bureau proposed to create a spacecraft from a test stand version of the TKS mated to a mock-up built to the Skif-D drawings.
(Excerpt) Read more at astronautix.com ...
I love your tech posts.
Thank you very much.
:)
Now why would they do that? ;-)
We never know. The Russians may have a few of these things operational now.
Besides, they are the only nation to have a nuclear ABM system (China is in the process of developing their own).
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