Mission Profile of Targeted Splashdown for Space Station Mir

Abstract

The largest man-made object to reenter Earth's atmosphere is Russia's Space Station Mir, which was deorbited on 23 March 2001. The major requirements and constraints of the mission, propulsion options, and attitude systems are described. The mission profile includes two phases. The first phase is a low-thrust transfer to a prereentry orbit after the Mir orbit has decreased to a very low altitude, and the second phase is a final transfer with a maximum possible thrust-to-weight ratio from the prereentry orbit to a reentry trajectory. The problems of the mission profile for a targeted splashdown in a specified region of the Pacific Ocean east of Australia are considered. Two possible mission profiles were evaluated. The results of actual deorbit burn sequence and Mir reentry trajectory are discussed as well as brief description of contingency situations.