Ekol Credit - USAF Phillips Laboratory

The Lavochkin NPO designed a variety of remote sensing spacecraft based on a new 3.5-metric-ton, 4-kW satellite bus named Freight which could be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on converted SS-18 ICBM's. The two principal remote sensing versions of Freight (other variants could support technological, materials science, and biological science experiments) were EKOL and Ozone. The configuration of the 5.2-metric-ton EKOL varied. Potential payloads included SAR (30- 100 m resolutions) and multi-spectral (0.4-10.3 micrometer with 5-10 m resolution) instruments. Ozone would carry a lidar (0.8 m diameter mirror) at altitudes of 600-900 km to study ozone concentrations as part of its 5-metric-ton mass.