Observing mobile objects under the Uragan experiment onboard the International Space Station

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Abstract

One of the most important tasks for our country’s spaceflight is to observe and monitor various territories on the Earth surface. This task is addressed by space equipment Uragan, which serves as a framework for developing technologies and hardware for Earth studies onboard the Russian Segment of the International Space Station. The experiment uses standard photographic and video equipment, as well as specially developed scientific equipment. The experiment serves as a framework for addressing various tasks, including potentially dangerous and catastrophic phenomena of natural or man-made origins. One of the focus areas of the experiment consists in monitoring bird and animal migrations on Earth using space technologies. Scientific equipment Icarus was developed within the framework of international cooperation between Germany and Russia. The experiment uses miniature sensors attached to birds and animal. Data from the sensors goes to the Russian Segment of ISS and from there to the Mission Control Center near Moscow. The received data are used for studying migratory paths of the survey targets. Ornithologists can predict migratory paths of the tagged birds and animals and interpret their changes. The paper presents the general principle of the movable target tracking technology that is being developed and provides a brief description of the equipment that is used. It describes the role of the crew in carrying out the experiment. The cosmonauts who co-authored the paper were among the originators of onboard implementation of the experiment involving the Icarus equipment. The paper presents some of the study results. Tagging birds within the framework of space experiment Uragan made it possible, for example, to gain new knowledge about wintering and migratory activities of 23 species of birds nestling in Russia. The paper also reviews potential and prospects for further development of the technology for tracking migration of animals and other targets on Earth from space that has been tried out onboard the ISS. It provides a description of future experiments proposed for the new Russian Orbital Station.

About the authors

Oleg G. Artem’ev

Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center

Email: diana.ayukaeva@rsce.ru

Hero of the Russian Federation, Instructor-Cosmonaut-Tester of the Roscosmos Cosmonaut Corps

Russian Federation, 141160, Star City, Moscow Region

Sergey V. Prokop’ev

Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center

Email: diana.ayukaeva@rsce.ru

Hero of the Russian Federation, Instructor-Cosmonaut-Tester of the Roscosmos Cosmonaut Corps

Russian Federation, 141160, Star City, Moscow Region

Diana M. Ayukaeva

S.P. Korolev RSC Energia

Author for correspondence.
Email: diana.ayukaeva@rsce.ru

Lead Engineer at the Payload Center

Russian Federation, 4a, Lenin St., 141070, Korolev, Moscow Region

Mikhail Y. Belyaev

S.P. Korolev RSC Energia; BMSTU (Mytishchi Branch)

Email: Mikhail.Belyaev@rsce.ru

Dr. Sci. (Tech.), Professor, Research Supervisor of the Space Experiment "Uragan"; Head of Chair K1 "Automatic Control Systems"

Russian Federation, 4a, Lenin St., 141070, Korolev, Moscow Region; 1, 1st Institutskaya St., 141005, Mytishchi, Moscow Region

Oleg N. Volkov

S.P. Korolev RSC Energia

Email: Oleg.N.Volkov@rsce.ru

Chief Specialist for Systems Design at the Payload Center

Russian Federation, 4a, Lenin St., 141070, Korolev, Moscow Region

Ilya Y. Batyrev

BMSTU (Mytishchi Branch)

Email: diana.ayukaeva@rsce.ru

Pg.

Russian Federation, 1, 1st Institutskaya St., 141005, Mytishchi, Moscow Region

Grigoriy M. Tertitskiy

Institute of Geography of Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: tertitski@mail.ru

Senior Researcher

Russian Federation, 29, Bld. 4, Staromonetnyi Per., 119017, Moscow

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2. Fig. 1. OBC-I onboard computer

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3. Fig. 2. Ikarus scientific equipment antenna unit during integrated testing at RSC "Energia"

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4. Fig. 3. Ikarus scientific equipment tag

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5. Fig. 4. O.G. Artemyev prepares the Ikarus scientific equipment for installation inside the Service Module of the Russian Segment of the International Space Station. The cosmonaut holds cables for connecting the OBC-I onboard computer to the onboard systems. The OBC-I onboard computer and brackets for its installation in the space behind the panel are located on the table

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6. Fig. 5. Cosmonauts O.G. Artemyev and S.V. Prokopyev install the antenna unit on the outer surface of the Russian Segment of the International Space Station

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7. Fig. 6. Ikarus antenna unit installed on the outer surface of the Russian Segment of the International Space Station

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8. Fig. 7. Experimental setup diagram for the Ikarus scientific equipment

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9. Fig. 8. Russian scientists' projects to track bird migrations

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10. Fig. 9. The Progress cargo spacecraft with a satellite and antenna unit installed for monitoring moving objects on Earth

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Copyright (c) 2025 Artem’ev O.G., Prokop’ev S.V., Ayukaeva D.M., Belyaev M.Y., Volkov O.N., Batyrev I.Y., Tertitskiy G.M.

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