In Karachay-Cherkessia, in the vicinity of Mount Chapal, at an altitude of about 2,200 meters above sea level, a unique military facility is located - the Krona radio-optical complex for recognizing space objects. With its help, the Russian military controls near and deep space. The Rossiyskaya Gazeta journalist visited a specific military unit and learned how the hunters for spy satellites are on duty and whether there is a UFO.
Two elbows on the map
However, getting into the military observatory was not so easy. First of all, I had to correct the visit permit. Moreover, in the official request, it was necessary to indicate not only your passport data, but also the data of the camera: model, serial number, technical characteristics, etc. Then, of course, I asked the special officer why this was necessary, and received a very comprehensive answer: "In order to ensure national security. Service, you understand."
However, the real test was yet to come.
According to the official address, the Krona space complex was located in the village of Storozhevaya-2, but there was no such settlement on paper or electronic maps. For all search queries, the navigator showed only one small village of Storozhevaya, lost in the foothills of the Caucasian ridge. And in the village itself, in order to find out the way to the "Krone", I had to take a "language" - to ask local residents about how to get to the unit. The villagers and children named a bridge, a store with a colored signboard, abandoned sheds as landmarks, and when asked if it was far from the part, as if by agreement, they answered: "Yes, it's side by side. Two elbows on the map."
Here is a sense of humor among the Cossacks of the North Caucasus …
The "concrete" winding through the fields and coniferous forest unexpectedly led to the checkpoint. The lieutenant on duty at the checkpoint explained the correct route for a long time, and then, apparently seeing my puzzled eyes, said:
- Let me tell you how to get to the "cosmonauts". It's not far here…. Two cubits on the map.
I did not disappoint the officer and, of course, I got lost. First I drove into a town where military families live. Then, having lost his way among the horses walking along the road, he ended up in the location of the mountain brigade. By the way, the mares and stallions that we met on the way turned out to be soldiers too - from the only horse platoon in the country.
Completely desperate, I did not notice how the delicate designs of snow-white antennas appeared against the background of blue mountains. This was Krona's brain center - a computer complex and a command and measurement center.
Land of flying dogs
At the top of Mount Chapal there is a military observatory, the main link of which is a unique laser-optical locator (we will talk about it later), as well as several other objects for tracking outer space. However, the military site for astronomical observations themselves is called "the land of flying dogs." This is not a metaphor, but eyewitness testimony about the strength of the winds on Chapal. Officers say that once during the construction of an optical telescope, a local dog was blown here by the wind. They brought in a few more, but all of them were carried away. Perhaps this is an army bike, but the name stuck.
- The winds here are really very strong, but the days and nights are clear almost all year round. It was the peculiarities of the atmosphere that became the decisive factor in choosing the location for the future location of the "Krona", - the deputy commander of the unit, Major Sergei Nesterenko, told me.
Construction of the complex began at the height of the Cold War in 1979. Then the arms race went into outer space: about three thousand artificial satellites revolved around the Earth. In addition, it was necessary to monitor the flights of ballistic missiles of a potential enemy. The situation required urgent measures to create specialized means of control over outer space. Soviet scientists have developed a complex that combines a radar station and an optical telescope. This design would make it possible to obtain the maximum information about flying artificial satellites, from reflective characteristics in the radio range to photographs in the optical range.
Before the collapse of the USSR, it was planned to use the MiG-31D fighter-interceptors as part of the Krona complex, which were intended to destroy enemy satellites in low-earth orbit. After the events of 1991, tests of space fighters stopped.
Initially, the "Krona" was planned to be located next to the civil observatory in the village of Zelenchukskaya, but fears of mutual interference with such a close placement of objects led to the relocation of the radio-optical complex to the Storozhevoy area.
The construction and commissioning of all facilities of the complex lasted for many years. The officers of the Aerospace Defense Forces serving on the complex say that the military builders performed a real feat when more than 350 kilometers of power supply lines were stretched in the mountains, over 40 thousand concrete slabs were laid, 60 kilometers of water pipes were laid …
Although all major works were completed in 1984, due to financial difficulties, the system was put into trial operation in November 1999. The adjustment of the equipment continued for several more years, and only in 2005 the "Krona" was put on alert. However, tests and modernization of the pearl of the complex - a laser optical locator - are still ongoing. After all, technology and science do not stand still.
Space debris portrait painters
- At the top of Mount Chapal are the optical means of the system, and at the bottom - the radar. The uniqueness of the Krona complex lies precisely in the fact that there is no other facility in which the capabilities of optical and radar facilities would be concentrated,”explained the deputy commander of the unit, Major Sergei Nesterenko.
Control of outer space begins with observing the hemisphere of the sky, detecting space objects and determining their trajectory. Then they are photographed, that is, obtaining optical images, which allows you to determine the appearance and motion parameters. The next stage of control is to determine the reflective characteristics of a space object in the decimeter, centimeter and optical wavelength ranges. And as a result - object recognition, identification of its belonging, purpose and technical characteristics.
Optical means are located, as already mentioned, in the "land of flying dogs", where the atmosphere is cleaner and where there are much more nights with a cloudless sky than on the plain.
The main instrument, an optical telescope with a sharply directed lens hood, is located in one of the structures in a tower with a white dome that opens during operation.
- It is this telescope, working as a part of an optoelectronic system, that makes it possible to obtain images of space objects in reflected sunlight at a distance of up to 40 thousand kilometers. Simply put, we see all objects, including those with a diameter of up to 10 centimeters, in near and deep space, '' said Major Alexander Lelekov, the commander of the crew on duty.
Next to the telescope there is a structure in which the equipment of the passive autonomous detection channel (KAO) is located. In automatic mode, it detects unknown objects in its area of the celestial sphere, determines their characteristics and transmits all this to the Outer Space Control Center.
At the foot of Mount Chapal there is a computer complex and a command and measurement center. The second - radar - part of the complex is also located here. The radar station operates in the decimeter (channel "A") and centimeter (channel "H") ranges.
By the way, the ZIL-131 truck could freely turn around on the A channel antenna.
- As a result, a detailed portrait of a space object is formed in all the necessary ranges. After computer processing, the data are sent to the Outer Space Control Center in the Moscow Region. There they are processed and entered into the Main Catalog of Space Objects,”says Major Lelekov. - Now only Americans have the ability to compile such an information base, who regularly exchange this information in accordance with international treaties. According to the latest data, more than 10 thousand space objects rotate around the Earth, including operating domestic and foreign satellites. Space debris should be included in a separate category; according to various estimates, there are up to 100 thousand pieces of various debris in orbit.
Why are they dangerous?
- First of all, uncontrollability. Collision with them can lead to disruption of communications, navigation, as well as to man-made accidents and disasters. For example, a small fragment just over one centimeter in size can completely disable any satellite or even an ISS-type orbital station. But this is in space. And there may be consequences associated with the fall of space objects on the Earth. For example, once a week an object more than one meter in size leaves orbit. And our task is precisely to foresee such a situation, to determine with what degree of probability it will occur, where, in what area there will be a fall. Situations associated with changes in the parameters of functioning, orbital characteristics, dangerous encounters, we consider daily.
Not familiar with UFOs
Accompanied by the officers, I pass into the holy of holies - the command post of the unit. I am immediately warned that photography is limited here. It is strictly forbidden to remove the workplaces of the attendants.
Impeccable cleanliness everywhere. Unlike modern films, where the military or scientists show a lot of all kinds of equipment and computers, the interior here is spartan and more reminiscent of the atmosphere of the 80s. Karelian birch panels, bedside tables, desks, table lamps, dial telephones …
On the walls are homemade visual agitation - hand-drawn posters about the space forces, the history of the unit. Tables with calculations on which the readings of the locators are written in chalk. In the operating room, where several officers are on alert, there is a huge screen in front of the tables, onto which the entire space situation is projected. Commands are heard from the speakers, understandable only to military stargazers.
Only the Russian banner, portraits of the President and the Minister of Defense remind of the present. In the red corner is the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.
“The local priest gave this to us when he blessed the optical locator,” says Alexander Lelekov.
I immediately remembered the ditties that were sung in 1961: "Gagarin flew into space - he did not see God." But, apparently, times are changing, and there are no atheists left among the military.
After observing the work of the duty crew, I ask the question: do you believe in astrology and have you ever met unidentified flying objects at work? After thinking for a few minutes, the major with a smile, like Yuri Gagarin's, said:
- Although I observe the stars and space, I don’t believe in astrology. I have been in the army for many years, before "Krona" I served on the "Pechora" and in the suburbs, but I have never encountered a UFO. All objects that we observe have a reasonable origin.
by the way
On July 10, the military, who are observing space from the village of Storozhevaya-2, will celebrate the 35th anniversary of the formation of the unit. Colonel Valery Bilyk became the first commander of the unique military unit. The Krona complex, which has no analogues in the world, was created under the leadership of Doctor of Technical Sciences Vladimir Sosulnikov, chief designers Sergei Kuzenkov and Nikolai Belkin. Transportation and installation of the telescope mirror in 1985 from Leningrad to the KChR took a whole month. Data on space observations carried out with the help of "Krona" are classified.
