MOSCOW. (Yury Zaitsev for RIA Novosti)
Navigator-type platforms will be launched by the considerably cheaper Soyuz-2 medium-size rockets.Soviet scientists had decided to develop the Spektr-UF ultraviolet observatory in the late 1980s, and an ultraviolet orbital telescope with an 80-centimeter main mirror operated successfully in near-Earth orbit between 1983 and 1989. The relevant experience made it possible to develop a prototype Spektr-UF observatory by 1993. This delayed project, intended to accomplish more sophisticated scientific objectives, will feature state-of-the-art technology. The Spektr-UF project has become more relevant due to the expected increase in demand for ultraviolet observations in the next decade and the lack of the required space platforms.
The $6 billion NASA Hubble Space Telescope, the most powerful and expensive extra-atmospheric ultraviolet observatory to date, loses about 50% of observation time due to its near-Earth orbit. The Russian telescope, however, will either
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