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Article Number: 11F650. Code Name: Orlets. Class: Surveillance. Type: Military. Destination: Surveillance Orbit. Nation: Russia. Manufacturer: Kozlov.

Extremely high resolution version of Yantar studied in 1969. A draft project was completed in May 1977, but the decision was made to keep the basic Yantar-2K satellite bus instead., and the code name was subsequently applied to the resulting Orlets-1 reconnaissance satellite.

Associated Launch Vehicle: Soyuz 11A511U.


Yantar-6K Chronology
  • 1977 May 1 - Council of Chief Designers reconsiders Yantar Soviet reconnsat designs -

    Flight trials of the Yantar-2K indicated the satellite was not capable of providing strategic warning of attack. The planned Yantar-6K series, in development since 1969, were overweight and behind schedule. A meeting of the Council of Chief Designers at TsSKB reviewed alternative approaches. It was decided that three variants of the Yantar-2K were to be developed, one of them the high resolution Yantar-4K.


Bibliography:

  • Sorokin, Vladislav, Novosti Kosmonavtiki, "'Yantarnaya istoriya'", 1997, Issue 17, page 57.
  • Grahn, Sven, Sven Grahn's Space History Pages, Web Address when accessed: http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/.
  • Melnik, T G, Voenno-Kosmicheskiy Siliy, Nauka, Moscow, 1997..
  • Sorokin, V, Novosti kosmonavtiki, "Yantarnaya istoriya-2", No. 11, 1999, p. 71..


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