Friday, September 21, 2007

Russian Space Forces Launch Navsat - Update

The Russian Space Forces launched a Parus military navigation on 11 Sep 2007 at 1305 UTC from Plesetsk Space Complex (LC132 Pad 1).

Name: Cosmos 2429
International Designator: 2007-038A
SSC #: 32052
Mission: Military Navsat - Parus type
Launch Date/Time: 11 Sep 2007/1305 UTC
Launcher: SL-08/C-1, Kosmos-3M
Orbital Period: 104.63 minutes
Orbital Inclination: 82.98 degress
Apogee: 999 kM
Perigee: 956 kM
Eccentricty: 0.0029585
Downlinks: 150.030 MHz (FM FSK) and 400.080 MHz

The Tsyklon series was followed by the fully operational "Tsyklon-B" or "Parus" system. Unlike the wildly varying Transit satellites, the Tsyklon and Parus satellites had similar configurations. Both are in the form of a drum covered with solar cells, with a weighted mast on top for gravity-gradient stabilization, and a what appears to have been an antenna hung off one side near the bottom. They are all launched from the Plesetsk Northern Cosmodrome by the standard Soviet Kosmos 3M medium-lift booster, one satellite per shot, though a few did include small secondary payloads. The developed Parus satellites had a launch weight of about 810 kilograms (1,785 pounds), and were placed into a near-circular orbit of about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) at a near-polar inclination of 83 degrees.