Satcom in the Soviet Union
Abstract
An historical overview of Soviet developments in satellite communications is given, stressing the Molniya orbital system. The highly elliptical orbit with an initial inclination of 63 degrees has a perigee deep in the Southern Hemisphere of 400 km above the earth, and an apogee of 40,000 km above the Northern Hemisphere, thus covering the entire Soviet Union and minimizing tracking requirements for ground stations. Since 1964, use of the Molniya orbit has been expanded to currently include two eight-member systems; Molniya 1, carrying telephone and telegraph traffic for governmental and military needs, and Molniya 3, used for television broadcasting, international, and possibly maritime communications. The Molniya orbit systems are used in conjunction with low altitude and geosynchronous earth orbits for a three-tiered system of 150 operational satellites of which about 20 percent are used for communications. Because the Molniya orbit did not meet Soviet military requirements, two complementary, low-cost, low-altitude, store/dump communications systems were developed in the late 1960s and are still in use today. The first system is made up of three stallites in nearly circular orbits at a mean altitude of 800 km. The second system deploys eight satellites into nearly 1500 km circular orbits on every launch. A new system began to be deployed in 1987, using a more advanced launch vehicle which places sets of six satellites into orbits of 1400 km at an inclination of 82.6 degrees.
- Publication:
-
Satellite Communications
- Pub Date:
- June 1988
- Bibcode:
- 1988SatCo..12...21J
- Keywords:
-
- Communication Satellites;
- Satellite Communication;
- Satellite Networks;
- Soviet Satellites;
- U.S.S.R. Space Program;
- Circular Orbits;
- Eccentric Orbits;
- Elliptical Orbits;
- Ground Stations;
- Satellite Orbits;
- Spacecraft Launching;
- Communications and Radar