
Priroda
Priroda was the last of the scheduled five Russian modules of the Mir space station complex and was launched from the Baykonur
cosmodrome by a Proton-K rocket to dock after 3
days rather than the usual 9 days. The launch itself was 3 days earlier than the planned
date in order to facilitate an American microbiology program.
Priroda carried several remote sensing Russian instruments. Other cargo on board
included 900 kg of American equipment to be delivered to the American astronaut on Mir.
It was for a while considered, that Priroda might later be attached to the planned
international space station ISS. But evantually Priroda remained with the Mir-Complex until deorbiting.
The remote sensing instrument suite of Priroda consisted of:
- Alissa lidar - measured cloud height, structure, optical properties. 150 m vertical
resolution, 1 km horizontal resolution
- Centaur 400 MHz receiver - used to gather ocean buoy data
- DOPI interferometer - studies gases and aerosols. 2.4-20 micrometer
- Greben ocean altimeter - 10 cm resolution, 13.76 GHz, 2.5 km swath, nadir viewing
- Ikar D scanning microwave radiometer system - scanned 40 deg off track with a 400 km
swath. 4.0, 0.3, 0.8, 1.35 micrometer wavelengths, resolution up to 5 km and 0.15 deg. K
- Ikar N nadir microwave radiometers - 0.3, 0.8, 1.35, 2.25 6.0 micrometer wavelengths, resolution up to 60 km and 0.15 deg. K
- Ikar P panoramic microwave radiometers - 2.25, 6.0 micrometer wavelengths, 750 km swath, resolution up to 75 km and 0.15 deg. K
- Istok 1 IR spectroradiometer - wavelengths between 4.0-16.0 micrometer, 7 km swath, 0.7 × 2.8 km resolution
- MOS-Obzor spectrometer - measured aerosol profile and ocean reflectance. 17 channels
between 0.750-1.01 micrometer, 80 km swath, 700 m resolution
- MOMS 02P Earth imager - 4 channels between 0.440-0.810 micrometer. Multi spectral, stereo or high resolution data, 6 km resolution. German instrument, initially flown aboard
Spacelab D2 on Shuttle.
- MSU-E2 high resolution optical scanner - 10 m resolution, 3 channels between 0.5 and 0.9
micrometer, nadir viewing, 2 × 24.5 km swaths
- Ozon M spectrometer - used for ozone/aerosol profiles. 160 channels between 0.257-1.155
micrometer, 1 km altitude resolution
- Travers Synthetic Aperture Radar - 1.28/3.28 GHz, 50 km swath, 38 deg. look angle, 50 m
resolution
Aditionally, more experiments for other areas of science were carried:
- Ainur electrophoresis unit.
- Korund 1MP semiconductor unit.