------------------------------------------------------------ CIVILIAN SPACE RESEARCH SHIPS OPERATED BY THE SOVIET ACADEMY OF SCIENCES ------------------------------------------------------------ Submitted by Sam Ricks [76367,2640] Introduction: ------------- The following ships are operated by the Soviet Academy of Sciences in support of manned spaceflight activities and are considered to be civilian research/tracking vessels. The Soviet Academy of Sciences also operates a much larger fleet of oceanographic and weather research ships. The Soviet Navy operates a separate fleet of missile range ships in support of ballistic missile tests. These ships are based in the Pacific. The largest and newest (1984) of these ships is the AGI Marshall M.I. Nedelin, based at the Pacific Ocean Fleet headquarters in Vladivostok. GAGARIN Class ------------- Kosmonaut Yuri Gagarin [UKFI] The Gagarin is the largest Soviet research ship, displacing 45,000 tons. Launched in 1970 at Leningrad, the Gagarin has a hull design similar to that of a tanker. The 773 ft. long ship has 4 dish type antennas arrayed in-line amid-ships. This spacecraft/satellite tracking vessel is based in the Black Sea, probably at Odessa. The ship was named after the Soviet Union's first cosmonaut, who died in a 1968 aircraft accident. KOMAROV Class ------------- Kosmonaut Vladimir Komarov [UUVO] The Komarov was originally launched in 1966 as the dry cargo vessel, Genichesk. The Komarov, named in honor of the Soviet Union's first space fatality, was converted for use as a tracking ship at Leningrad in 1967. The 510 ft. Komarov displaces 17,500 tons, and has 2 large/1 small radome type antennas. The Komarov's home port is Odessa. KOROLEV Class ------------- Akademik Sergei Korolev [UISZ] The 21,500 ton Korolev was launched at Nikolayev in 1970 and was named after the director of the early Soviet space program. The 596 ft. tracking vessel has 2 dish type and 1 small radome type antennas. An older, much smaller ship, with a similar name, the Akademik Korolev, is an Akademik Kurchatov Class research ship assigned to Hydromet and is based in Vladivostok. The Akademik Sergei Korolev is based in Odessa, on the Black Sea. From September 1987 to February 1988, the Korolev was operating off Nova Scotia in support of the orbiting MIR space complex. BELYAYEV Class -------------- Kosmonaut Pavel Belyayev [UTDX] Kosmonaut Georgy Dobrovolsky [UZZV] Kosmonaut Vladislav Volkov [UIVZ] Kosmonaut Viktor Patsayev [UZYY] All of the above ships were formerly Vytegrales class freighters converted to spaceflight tracking ships at Leningrad between 1977 and 1978. The Patsayev, Volkov, and Dobrovolsky were named after three cosmonauts who died during the landing of Soyuz 11 in 1971. These 400 ft., 5,970 ton ships have atleast one dish type antenna amid-ships. They are based in the Baltic port of Tallinn. VYTEGRALES Class ---------------- Borovichi [UVAU] Kegostrov [UKBH] Morzhovets [UUYG] Nevel [UUYZ] This class of satellite/spaceflight tracking ships were formerly timber carriers. They were converted to their present role at Leningrad in 1967. They have various arrays of tracking and directional antennas. All are based in the Baltic, at Tallinn. Communications via RTTY ----------------------- Soviet Academy of Sciences operated research ships contact their home ports via radioteletype on maritime shortwave frequencies. Scientific data and telemetry are transmitted back to various control centers, such as Flight Control at Kaliningrad, via satellite. The message traffic consists mainly of crew telegrams to their families. These are similar to our military's MARSGRAMS. In addition, message traffic between various scientific organizations and other Academy of Sciences vessels can be seen. Soviet ships transmit RTTY at 50 Baud, 170 HZ shifts. In some cases, 75 and 100 baud, normal and reverse polarity have been seen. Frequencies around 4178, 6268, 8297.5-8299.5, 8344-8357, 12492-12526, 16696-16705 KHZ are the most active RTTY frequencies for Soviet ships. Soviet coastal stations can be found throughout the shortwave maritime bands. Soviet tracking ships monitor scheduled broadcasts of "traffic lists" from either their home port or UAT Moscow Radio. "Traffic lists" from coastal radio stations are broadcast in high speed CW and RTTY. When the vessel's radio operator spots his call sign, contact is made with the coastal station in CW. The coastal station will acknowledge and assign the vessel a frequency to TRANSMIT its' messages. The vessel RECEIVES RTTY traffic from the coastal station on a different frequency. The tracking ships usually contact URD Leningrad, UFB Odessa, and UAT Moscow almost exclusively. UAT is monitored for message traffic originating from other ships at sea. The following is an example of the "RY" test tapes which precede message traffic between ship and coastal station. UFB is the call sign of Odessa Radio. UISZ is the call sign of the tracking ship Akademik Sergei Korolev. RYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRY UFB UFB DE UISZ UISZ K RYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRY UFB UFB DE UISZ UISZ K RYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRY UFB UFB DE UISZ UISZ K RYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRY UFB UFB DE UISZ UISZ K The following are message headers from various tracking ships. NIS AK S KOROLEW ODS/..! 340 WE QTXQW PWPPV NIS KOSM WL KOMAROW ODS/..! 384 WY QYXR PTPPV NIS KOSM P BELQEW LNG/..! 240 WU QUXR PEPPV NIS MORVOWEC LNG/..! 106 WI QPXY PTPPV NIS KOSM G DOBROWOLXSKIJ LNG/..! 149 WP QYXY PEPPV NIS KOSMONAWT WL WOLKOW LNG/..! 22 WW PWXPR PRPPV "NIS" is the Cyrillic/Baudot keyboard abbreviation for the Russian words "Scientific Research Vessel." Cyrillic spellings of ship names differ in some cases from the "Latin" transliterations appearing in Jane's Fighting Ships. For example, MORVOWEC, in Cyrillic, appears as Morzhovets in "Latin" versions of ship names. Without the "NIS" designator, the Gagarin and Komarov can be confused with fish carrier vessels with similar names. Tracking ships usually remain at sea for 120 days before being relieved. However, due to the availability of these ships, they may be ordered into a foreign port to transfer crew and then return to their previous position. Crews in the North Atlantic are usually exchanged at Rotterdam and Cueta, a Spanish port opposite Gibralter. During their deployment, these vessels may visit nearby ports for crew "rest and relaxation." For tracking ships in the South Atlantic, port calls are usually made at Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands. Vessels in the Carribean have visited Willemstad, Curacao; Vera Cruz, Mexico; and Havana. Operations ---------- The Soviets usually position a large tracking ship such as the Gagarin, Komarov, or the Korolev, in the North Atlantic off Canada's Sable Island. During manned spaceflights, such as the current MIR missions, Soviet tracking ships monitor voice, telemetry, and TV signals from the spacecraft. This data is then relayed back to Flight Control in Kaliningrad (a suburb of Moscow) via polar orbiting nongeosynchronus communications satellites. Soviet Molniya communications satellites rise and set over Hudson's Bay in the Canadian Arctic. Because of winter ice and spring/summer ice berg seasons, the most favorable position for a tracking ship is off Nova Scotia. The Molniya's have an operational period of 6 hours over the Arctic. For an hour, at appogee, they "hang" almost motionless over Hudson's Bay. As one satellite sets, another one is rising. Thus, the tracking ships can maintain continous contact with the Soviet Union. During the MIR's hour and a half orbit, it is "in sight" of atleast one of these tracking ships for approximately 7-10 minutes. This is when telemetry is monitored. Other tracking ships are positioned off the West coast of Africa near Togo and Montevideo, Uruguay. These tracking ships monitor the MIR when it is out of "sight" of the North Atlantic tracking ships. Tracking ships frequently change position, depending on orbital parameters, in order to keep the spacecraft "in sight" during subsequent orbits. Occasionally, you will see numerical data transmitted in "QWERTYUIOP" shorthand between tracking ships via a coastal station, usually UAT Moscow. With the aid of a word processor, with search and replace features, this data can be decoded. The numbers 1,2,3,4 .... are substituted for Q,W,E,R .... with (/) and (.) substituted for X and M. The following is an example of decoded data. These are apparently "look up angles" used to aim dish antennas at orbiting spacecraft. No identifying column headings are transmitted. However, the tracking ships' call sign, latitude and longitude, and sometimes an orbit number is sent in a header accompanying each block of data. Usually, the position is reported as, for example, "35001 53001," meaning latitude 35 00 South, longitude 53 00 West. The last digit, in this case "1" may refer to the quadrant, North, South, East, or West. 0.29.17 227.46 0. 0 0.29.30 227H42 00.46 0.30. 0 227.33 2.49 0.20.50 227.23 5V10 0.30.50 227.15 6.59 V.31. 0 227.12 7.54 0.31.30 226.57 11.16 0.32.0 VVV39 15.35 0.32.30 226.14 21.33 0.33. 0 225.32 30.36 0.33.30 224. 0 45.52 0.34. 0 216X3 72.34 0.34.30 57.35 71. 9 0.35. 0 50.53844.48 0.35.30 49.26 29. 6 0.36. 0 48.45 20.50 0.36.30 48.21 14.55 0.37. 0 48. J 10.38 0.3KV30 47.52 7.18 0.37.33 47.50 6.59 0.38. 0 47.41 4. 0.38.30 47.33 2.04 0.39. 0 47.25 0.10 0.39. 2 47.24 0. 0V In this example, elapsed time, azimuth, and degrees above horizon for one orbit were sent. The ten minute period covered in this data indicates the time necessary for the object to cross the horizon and is consistent with a low earth orbit. This particular object crossed almost directly overhead, which accounts for the abrupt change in azimuth from southwest to northeast. Conclusion: ---------- Tracking ships in the North Atlantic, particularly those off the coast of Nova Scotia, have strong signals for SWL's on the East Coast. At present, there are atleast 6 tracking ships in the Atlantic, (2 in the North, 2 in the South, 1 in the Carribean, and 1 enroute to the South Atlantic). As with most Soviet commercial vessels, tracking ships are in daily contact with their home ports. Tracking ships are usually the most active of the Soviet Academy of Sciences research vessels. ------------------------------------------------------------ Sources: Janes Fighting Ships 1984-85 "The Soviet Space Challenge," U.S. Dept. of Defense, November 1987. Downloaded From P-80 Systems 394-744-2253