Development
The Spektr module was originally developed as part of a top-secret military program code-named "Oktant." It was planned to carry experiments with space borne surveillance and test antimissile defense. The surveillance instruments were mounted on the exterior of the module opposite the docking port. Also in this location were two launchers for artificial targets. The heart of the Spektr payload was an experimental optical telescope code-named "Pion” (Peony).
Instrument list:
- 286K binocular radiometer
- Astra 2 - monitored atmospheric trace constituents, Mir environment
- Balkan 1 lidar - measures upper cloud altitude. Used a 5320 angstrom laser source, provided 4.5 m resolution
- EFO 2 photometer
- KOMZA - interstellar gas detector
- MIRAS absorption spectrometer - measured neutral atmospheric composition
- Phaza spectrometer - surface studies. Examined wavelengths between 0.340-285 micrometer, and provides 200 km resolution
- Taurus/Grif - monitored Mir's induced X/gamma ray background
- VRIZ UV spectroradiometer
These experiments would have been a continuation of the research a top-secret TKS-M module, which docked to Salyut 7 in 1985. However, with the end of the Cold War and the shrinking of Russia’s space budget, the module was stuck on the ground.
In the mid-1990s with the return of US-Russian cooperation in space, NASA agreed to provide funds to complete the Spektr and Priroda modules in exchange for having 600 to 700 kg of US experiments installed. The Oktava military component was replaced with a conical mounting area for two additional solar arrays. The airlock for the Oktava targets to be used instead to expose experiments to the vacuum of space.
Once in orbit, Spektr served as the living quarters for American astronauts until the collision in late June 1997
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