A team of designers and specialists who created an optical-electronic space monitoring system called Okno (Window) has been awarded the State Prize in the field of science and technology for 2004. The laureates include the chief of the Space Troops staff, Major-General Alexander Kvasnikov. The prize was awarded to Major-General Alexander Kvasnikov for research and the creation of the optical-electronic space monitoring system. Kvasnikov has rich experience of practical work and profound knowledge in the field of space monitoring. He personally contributed to the creation of the optical-electronic system Okno. General Kvasnikov took an active part in substantiating the main specifications for the Okno system, which have placed it among the best samples of military hardware in the world - Alexei Kuznetsov, Space Troops spokesman.
Okno is deployed in Tajikistan near the city of Nurek, 2,300 metres above the sea level. Its prime function is to detect high-orbit space objects at an altitude of 2,000 - 40,000 kilometres. It can ensure global monitoring over the entire range of altitudes used by space objects over Eurasia, North and Central Africa, the adjacent parts of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans. It re-entered service in 1999 and now is serving in the space-surveillance division of the 3rd Army,
This is one of the most effective instruments that make up the space control system Okno also monitors low-orbit space objects at an altitude of 120 - 2,000 kilometres. The system can work without an operator in a real time mode during twilight periods. It can detect high-orbit space objects on the first or second revolution after launch from major foreign sites.
The system covers the main military and dual-purpose space assets of the United States and NATO that keep the territories of Russia and the CIS countries under surveillance. The system is particularly important in dealing with emergencies, such as the loss of a spacecraft or the failure of onboard communication equipment. Okno can also be used for space environmental monitoring to watch space debris that may be dangerous for piloted missions.
All movable and immovable property that constitutes the optical-electronic system Nurek was handed into Russias ownership in April.
