Taifun-3 Credit - KB Yuzhnoye Media Gallery

Specifications for a third generation Taifun-3 system were developed in 1980 with flight trials to have started in 1984. In the event flights seem not to have started until 1988. This target system was designed for exercise and calibration of space control sensors. The satellite was launched by the Tsyklon 3 launch vehicle and released 36 Romb subsatellites.

Typical orbit: 310 km circular orbit, 73.5 deg inclination. Mass: 3,000 kg (6,600 lb). Associated Launch Vehicle: Tsyklon 3.

• 1988 December 23 - Cosmos 1985 - Launch Site: Plesetsk. Launch Vehicle: Tsyklon 3. Perigee: 206 km (128 mi). Apogee: 220 km (130 mi). Inclination: 73.50 deg. Period: 88.80 min.

  Radar calibration mission. Believed to be a modernised version of the Taifun-1 satellite. Released 36 Romb radar calibration subsatellites.

• 1989 December 27 - Cosmos 2053 - Launch Site: Plesetsk. Launch Vehicle: Tsyklon 3. Mass: 3,000 kg (6,600 lb). Perigee: 405 km (251 mi). Apogee: 410 km (250 mi). Inclination: 73.50 deg. Period: 92.70 min.

  Believed to be a modernised version of the Taifun-1 satellite, built by NPO Yuzhnoe. The satellite carried 36 small Calibration Spherical Object subsatellites to test Russian radars. These were released between December 27, 1989 and November 1, 1991. While Cosmos 2053 re-entered in 1997, by May 1999 the S5M upper stage was still in a 471 km x 485 km x 73.5 deg orbit. An on-board explosion blew it into 25 new objects.

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