KRASNOYARSK, April 20. /TASS/. Specialists of a space research and production company in the Krasnoyarsk Territory in East Siberia have developed a system of external video monitoring of satellites to better control their condition, the company’s leading designer-engineer told TASS on Thursday.
"The system is designed to monitor the condition of a satellite and get telemetry data," Leading Designer-Engineer of Small Space Vehicles Company Alexander Sharanok said at the Krasnoyarsk economic forum.
"At present, this information is obtained with the help of various sensors. For example, a satellite in space should open an antenna. It starts to unfold it, which triggers an antenna unfolding sensor. But it may get stuck in the process while the sensor has already been activated," he said.
According to the leading designer-engineer, the new system comprises a control unit and a series of chambers rotating 360 degrees and recording in the visible and infrared bands. They can take images of both the space vehicle itself and the space around it.
The developers have carried out the system’s experimental prototype together with specialists of the Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems Enterprise that produces satellites, he said.