The Lira system () is a two-way communication system used between the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

and Mission Control via the

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n ''Luch'' relay satellite constellation including the four first generation ''Altair'' satellites and the second generation ''Gelios'' satellite. The

Russian Orbital Segment The Russian Orbital Segment (ROS) is the name given to the components of the International Space Station (ISS) constructed in Russia and operated by the Russian Roscosmos. The ROS handles Guidance, Navigation, and Control for the entire Station ...

(ROS) communication Subsystems can receive commands directly from ground stations through the Regul Subsystem and can receive commands from the LUCH satellite through the Lira or the Regul System. The Lira antenna and associated electronics were part of the Zvezda module which was launched in July 2000. Due to issues with the Luch satellite system communications from the Russian Orbital Segment was routed through a mix of direct connection to

ground stations A ground station, Earth station, or Earth terminal is a terrestrial radio station designed for extraplanetary telecommunication with spacecraft (constituting part of the ground segment of the spacecraft system), or reception of radio waves fro ...

via the Regul system and the

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System The U.S. Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS, pronounced "T-driss") is a network of American communications satellites (each called a tracking and data relay satellite, TDRS) and ground stations used by NASA for space communications. ...

. Additional Luch satellites were launched between 2011 and 2014 but the system was unable to reach full functionality until a spacewalk in February 2018 to replace electronics was completed.

References

Russian components of the International Space Station {{Russia-spacecraft-stub