Russian astronauts aboard the International Space Station conducted tests on a new device that will be used to secure communications and data transfer between stations and spacecraft. Regarding the topic, Russian astronaut Oleg Kononenko stated, "We carried out test checks on the new KL-121/122Ts device that was recently installed in the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft docked to the station... The systems that this device works with will be used in the promising Russian ROS space station and in the spacecraft that Russia will use in the future."
He added, "The device can receive television signals from vehicles approaching the space station, as well as receive and transmit the necessary data for the flight maneuvers of the spacecraft and their docking and undocking from the station. During the tests, the capabilities of the device to transmit television signals from Russian spacecraft were verified, and this will assist us in the future with docking operations of the vehicles to the International Space Station."
Kononenko noted that vehicles in space heading towards the International Space Station receive real-time data about their location and that of the station, and the onboard computer accurately calculates the flight path. This data is sent to the station to prepare for docking operations, and this is where the new device comes into play in receiving and sending such data.
