DS satellites are a series of satellites made to be universal, and easily modifiable according to customer needs. After a first launch in 1962, almost two hundred satellites will be launched. Several generations of DS satellites will be developed, some used for scientific studies, while others will be used by the Red Army for radar calibration. After flying two demonstration series (DS-1 and DS-2), the DS satellites will have three universal versions (DS-U1, unstabilized and battery-powered, DS-U2, unstabilized and solar-powered, DS-U3, stabilized). Versions will also be produced to fly international experiments, leading to the Intercosmos program.

This flight flew a DS-U1 G satellite. The DS-U1-G satellites were two Soviet satellites which were launched in 1966 and 1967 as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme. They were 291 kg spacecrafts, which were built by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, and were used to study the effects of solar activity on the upper atmosphere. Cosmos 108 was the first of two DS-U1-G satellites to be launched. It was operated in an orbit with a perigee of 190 km, an apogee of 344 km, 48.8 degrees of inclination, and an orbital period of 89.8 minutes. It completed operations on 26 February 1966. On 21 November 1966, it decayed from orbit and reentered the atmosphere.

These missions provided valuable information on correlation between solar activity and condition of the atmosphere. A model for the middle-atmosphere was established.