Mir's more accurate autonomous digital control system and its complex gyrodines will be shut down during the unmanned flight along with many other Mir's systems to save precious energy on board. Russian officials hope that thanks to atmospheric drag during dormant flight, Mir's altitude will reduce by more than 100 km, saving amount of fuel necessary to push the station off the orbit. According to Grigoriev, at least one new Progress cargo ship will have to be launched to Mir to deliver the fuel necessary to deorbit the station. Previously, two or three unmanned tankers would be needed to drop Mir from its regular 350-km orbit. For a controlled reentry, however, Mir's main computer and gyrodines will have to be activated again.
Russian officials hope to accomplish that with the help of the next crew.
Grigoriev said that the mission plan has not been finalized. However, according to Gorbunov, the crew might spend up to one month onboard, preparing the station for its final descent. Gorbunov said the decision to deorbit Mir is irreversible and the efforts by the members of the Russian parliament to raise private funds to finance Mir were largely fruitless. He estimated the amount of money available to the fund run by the former cosmonaut and parliament member Vitaly Sevastianov as 10 thousand dollars. Yet, another commercial project hopes to capitalize on Mir's legacy.