NEXT SPACEFLIGHT

Status

Success

Cosmos 291

Launch Time
Wed Aug 06, 1969 05:40 UTC

First flight of Tsyklon-2.

Rocket

Tsyklon-2
RVSN USSR
Status: Retired
Liftoff Thrust: 2,650 kN
Payload to LEO: 2,850 kg
Payload to GTO: 0 kg
Stages: 2
Strap-ons: 0
Rocket Height: 39.65 m
Fairing Diameter: 3.0 m
Fairing Height: 10.7 m

Mission Details

Cosmos 291

IS satellites (Russian: Истребитель Спутников, Satellite Hunters) is a family of Soviet military satellites developed in the 1960s with the ability to destroy enemy reconnaissance satellites in low orbit. The program, after being declared operational in 1973, was discontinued in 1993, following the fall of the USSR. The IS satellite is a kamikaze-type satellite that carries a conventional explosive charge that it explodes at a short distance from the targeted satellite after performing a series of maneuvers to approach it.

The IS satellite has a mass of 2,450 kg and consists of two subsystems: the first contains the guidance system and a 300 kg explosive charge, the second part contains the propulsion system. The satellite core is designed to fragment under the effect of the explosion into 12 groups of fragments to ensure the destruction of a target within a radius of 1 km. However, a frontal interception allows destruction only at a distance of 400 meters while an explosion occurring while the satellite catches up with its target allows its destruction at a distance of 2 km. The rocket engine can be reignited a large number of times and is designed to operate cumulatively for 300 seconds.

The IS satellite must be placed in the same orbit as the target to destroy it. This can be performed twice a day when the launcher can place the IS satellite on the same orbital plane as its target. Once launched, the satellite is guided by ground controllers to catch up with the target in 1 to 2 orbits. The IS satellite's radar then takes over to ensure guidance until the target is only a few dozen meters away. The explosive charge is then triggered, ejecting shrapnel which damages the target satellite. IS satellites have already destroyed other test satellites, but never other enemy satellites.

Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 2,450.0 kg
Low Earth Orbit

Location

Site 90/19, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

Stats

1969

77th orbital launch attempt

Tsyklon-2

1st mission
1st mission of 1969
1st successful mission