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Strela
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Strela-1M
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The Strela communications system consisted of a constellation of medium orbit store-dump satellites that provided survivable communications for Soviet military and intelligence forces. The operational constellation consisted of several dozen Strela-1M and 8 Strela-2M satellites. The small Strela-1M was used for open information only, and received data uploads from military units, with the messages held and then retransmitted to ground stations when the satellite was over Soviet territory.
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Strela-1
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Prototype of the small satellite element of the Strela system, which consisted of a large constellation of medium orbit store-dump satellites that provided survivable communications for Soviet military and intelligence forces. The system was developed experimentally in the 1960's, with flight tests of 26 of the Strela-1 model from 1964 to 1965. The production Strela-1M was flown beginning in 1970.
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Nadezhda
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On 6 May 1977 the USSR and US signed the COSPAS-SPASAT Treaty covering deployment of an international system of emergency beacon receivers aboard satellites. On 23 November 1979 a Memorandum of Agreement was signed by the USA, USSR, Canada, and France on implementation of the system. The receivers would be placed on satellites operating below 1,000 km altitude, and provide a positional accuracy of 3 km for 406 MHz beacons, 20 km for 121.5 MHz. Twenty were flown aboard Tsikada maritime navigation satellites, the first being Kosmos 1383 on 30 June 1982. The system, designated 'Nadezhda', was credited with saving hundreds of lives.
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Strela-3
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Store-dump military communications satellite, said to have initially been developed for the GRU. The Strela-3 was heavier and more capable than the Strela-1M, with six launched per Kosmos 3M booster instead of eight. An operational constellation consisted of twelve spacecraft in two orbital planes, spaced 90 degrees apart. A gravity-gradient beam was extended on-orbit to provide passive attitude stabilization.
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Gonets-D1
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Commercial version of GRU Strela-3 military store-dump satellite. Gonets-D1 was to be deployed in a constellation of 12 satellites (2 planes of 6) between 1996 and 1998. Each satellite had a single simultaneous earth-space and space-earth channel. On-board storage was 12 Mbits of data, with a transmission rate of 2.4 kbit/sec. Two preproduction test spacecraft of slightly different configuration called 'Gonets-D' were flown. A partial D-1 constellation was completed and operated beyond the projected dates of termination. Funding was partially completed for the Mature Gonets system. The Integrated Sat/Com Corporation acquired preliminary licensing of the D-1 Program from Mexico.
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Start
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Experimental satellite carried on test flight of the Start-1 carrier rocket, a new booster based on SS-25 ICBM.
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Zeya
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The Zeya satellite was used for navigation and geodesy tests from a sun-synchronous orbit. Also known as Mozhaets, the satellite was designed by students of the Mozhaiskiy military space engineering academy and built at NPO-PM. It used the obsolete Strela-1M satellite bus. It was the payload for the first launch from Russia's Svobodniy cosmodrome.
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Gonets
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The first generation store-dump communications Gonets-D system was to have been followed by an advanced Gonets-R design equipped with satellite-to-satellite links. Gonets-R would have employed a larger, 950-kg spacecraft in even greater numbers (45 satellites in 5 planes of 9) and have operated at L- and Ku bands. Each satellite would have a capacity of 15 earth-space and 3 space-earth channels. On-board storage was 8 Mbytes of data, with a transmission rate of 1.2 to 64 kbit/sec. Seems to have been abandoned due to lack of commercial interest.
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© Mark Wade, 1997 - 2007 except where otherwise noted.
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