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Mir's demise nears
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AS preparations continue for the fiery destruction of the Mir space station over the Pacific Ocean later this month, Russian ground controllers on Monday booted up the uninhabited station's main computer and began sending it commands.
The computer will be used to align the station in relation to Earth, said Vsevolod Latyshev, a spokesman at Mission Control. The step is necessary before rockets on a cargo ship docked to Mir can fire and send the 140-tonne space station down to Earth.
Mission Control said last week the station would likely be scuttled on March 20. But on Monday Viktor Blagov, deputy chief of Mission Control, said it would probably occur on March 21.
Russia has taken out US$200 million in insurance policies for possible damages when the Mir space station is dumped, a space official said on Sunday.
The 15-year-old Mir, once the crowning achievement of the Russian space programme, has deteriorated in recent years and the Russian Government finally agreed to abandon it. It is to be taken out of orbit in a controlled, fiery plunge into a vast ocean swath about equidistant between Australia and Chile.
Much of the station is expected to burn up from atmospheric friction as it streaks toward Earth, but officials estimate that some 1,500 fragments weighing a total of up to 27 tonnes could reach the surface.
Although Russia has extensive experience in dumping spacecraft in the ocean, such as the cargo ships that supplied Mir, the prospect of the huge station's plunge has unsettled many. Japan has been especially concerned, because Mir is expected to pass over its territory on its final, low orbit.
A Russian scientist has dismissed fears that microorganisms that could have mutated while aboard the Mir would cause a disaster on Earth.
Mir is being allowed to drift down from its normal orbit of about 400km to about 220km, at which point a cargo ship attached to the station is to fire its engines to push the Mir into its plunge.(SD-Agencies)
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