PMA-3 mine

The PMA-3 is a Yugoslavian blast resistant minimum metal anti-personnel mine. It is circular, consisting of a plastic upper and lower half joined together by a rubber cover. A safety collar is normally wrapped around the outside of the mine, preventing the upper half of the mine tilting when in transit. Once deployed the safety collar is removed. Sufficient pressure on the top surface of the mine causes it to tilt. The tilting drives a pin through a friction sensitive pyrotechnic compound, which fires the detonator and then the main explosive charge.

Straight downward pressure does not have the shearing component needed to trigger the mine, this gives the mine blast resistance, since blast overpressure bears down evenly on the top surface of the mine.

The mine has a relatively low explosive content, so will maim rather than kill. Its blast resistance combined with the lack of metal in the mine make it extremely difficult to clear.

PMA-3 mines can be found in minefields located in Albania, Bosnia, Cambodia, Chad, Chile, Croatia, Kosovo, Lebanon, Namibia and Peru

Pressurized Mating Adapter

The Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA) is a spacecraft adapter that converts the Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) to APAS-95. There are three PMAs located on the International Space Station (ISS). The first two PMAs were launched with the Unity module in 1998 aboard STS-88. The third was launched in 2000 aboard STS-92.

Uses

All the PMAs on the ISS are identical but used slightly differently, and all three perform the same basic function of connecting a Common Berthing Mechanism port of an ISS module to an APAS-95 docking port of another module or visiting spacecraft. For this the PMAs carry a passive CBM port and a passive APAS port. They are pressurized and heated from the inside, and through docking rings as well as external connections allow for power and data communications transfer.

PMA-1

This was one of the first components of the International Space Station and joins the Russian side of the station with the US side. On STS-88 the crew used the shuttle's robotic arm to attach the Zarya control module to PMA-1, which was already connected to the aft berthing port of Unity. PMA-1 now permanently connects these first two station components.