Tatiana is a small spacecraft built and launched for Moscow State University to monitor space radiation.
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Experts Blame Americans for Crippling Russian Satellite
Russian space experts believe that the Untied States may have used an anti-satellite weapon last month to kill a small Russian research satellite, the Interfax news agency reports.
The satellite in question is a small spacecraft built and launched for Moscow State University to monitor space radiation. The probe, nicknamed Universitetsky or Tatiana, was launched as a payload in January 2005 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. The satellite was built by the Polyot spacecraft plant in Omsk.
“According to some Russian experts, chances are high that the satellite fell victim to U.S. experiments in ray influence on spacecraft,” Interfax quoted an unnamed Russian expert as saying. The speculation is based on the timing of the satellite’s failure. The satellite stopped functioning on March 7, and the United States was conducting a military experiment at about the same time.
The source says Tatiana stopped sending signals suddenly. In addition, the satellite failure did not involve an actual breakup of the spacecraft, according to the Interfax report.
The source in the Russian rocket industry says the probe “could have been lost as a result of influence of some Earth-based technical means.” "One of such experiments, according to official information, was held in the U.S. shortly before our satellite stopped sending signals,” the source was quoted as saying.
Interfax talked with a second space expert who had a different explanation for the satellite’s loss. “The sudden failure of the satellite could be connected with the missile launch from the U.S. territory on March 7.”
U.S. military officials immediately dismissed the claim that the Pentagon intentionally crippled the satellite.
www.kommersant.com
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