Although most satellites, the Soviet Union developed during its existence, originated as defense-related systems, many of them were slowly making their way into civilian sectors of the Russia's economy. While some spacecraft combined their military and civilian roles, a number of satellites was built specifically for civilian purposes.

IN SERVICE: The overview of the Russian application and commercial spacecraft:

2001 EVENTS

Proton launches Russian comsat

2001 April 7: After 24 hour delay, the Proton-M rocket blasted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome into the first test flight.

The launch took place at 07:47 Moscow Time and several minutes later the Breeze M upper stage and the Ekran M18 communications satellite successfully reached the initial low orbit.

After a series of additional firings with the Breeze M upper stage and jettisoning of its external tank, the spacecraft reached the transfer orbit by 09:18 Moscow Time.

After one more maneuver of the Breeze M upper stage to circularize the orbit at the altitute of 36,000 kilometers, Ekran M spacecraft was expected to separate from the upper stage on April 7 at 14:31:19 Moscow Time.

Rosaviacosmos confirmed successful separation between Ekran M-18 and Breeze M at 14:31 Moscow Time. After a series of tests within next two weeks, the spacecraft is expected to drift to its final location at 99 degrees East over the Equator.

NPO Mash to build its first comsat

2001 Aug. 16: NPO Mashinostroenia, based in Reutov, demonstrated a full-scale mockup of the Ruslan-MM communications satellite and a full-scale payload section of the Strela booster, which is expected to boost the Ruslan-MM into initial orbit.

On June 22, 2001, NPO Mash won a contract from Russian satellite communications provider Intersputnik, which calls for the launch of the two Ruslan-MM comsats. The satellites will become the part of the constellation, which could eventually include as many as 100 spacecraft. As of July 2001, Interpsutnik also signed contracts with Khrunichev and NPO PM, who would supply two satellites each.

According to the terms of the contract with NPO Mash, the first Ruslan-MM has to be launched 30 months after first funds are delivered by Intersputnik, presumably in September 2001. The second Ruslan-MM is expected to fly four months later.

Both 637-kilogram satellites will be launched by the Strela booster into the initial orbit and then spend around 150 days climbing to their final geostationary orbit using electro-reactive engines. The weight of the spacecraft at the final orbit is expected to be 560 kilograms.

NPO Mash currently hopes to test-fly the Strela booster for the first time in the second or third quarter of 2002. The launch is expected to take place from the silo facility in Baikonur, built from UR-100N ICBM. The Strela derived from the UR-100N ICBM, originally developed at NPO Mash.

The Strela's operational launches are expected beginning in the fourth quarter of 2002 from Svobodny Cosmodrome in the Russian Far East.

NPO Mash also develops Condor-E satellite platform designed to carry radar remote-sensing and optical imaging payloads. The spacecraft is an "export" version of a classified project financed by the federal government. Both satellites would be launched on the Strela booster.

Ukraine to build satellite for Egypt

Posted: 2001 Nov. 1

Ukrainian space officials inked a deal last month to build and launch a satellite for the Egyptian government. According to the contract, signed in Egypt on October 24, the KB Yuzhnoe design bureau, based in the city of Dnepropetrovsk, and a group of industrial sub-contractors in Ukraine will develop and build the satellite within next three years. The deal was reached during a visit to Egypt by a group of Ukrainian space officials led by Stanislav Konyukhov, Designer General of KB Yuzhnoe and Yuri Alekseev, director of KB Yuzhnoe’s production plant.

Earlier this year, KB Yuzhnoe came out a winner among several bidders around the world to build the spacecraft for the Egyptian government, KB Yuzhnoe representative said. The Egyptian satellite, which will be used for remote-sensing applications, is expected to have an operational lifetime of five years. The spacecraft will be launched by the Dnepr-1 booster.

KB Yuzhnoe used to be a major manufacturer of military and civilian spacecraft in the former Soviet Union. In the post-Cold War period, the financially struggling company developed several versions of the orbital platforms, which could be adapted for needs of the commercial customers. With a weight ranging from 59 to 153 kilograms, such standardized satellites can carry from 10 to 100 kilograms of payload respectively.

Zenit-2 lofts a cluster of satellites

Posted: 2001 Dec. 10

The Zenit-2 rocket delivered the Meteor-3M remote-sensing satellite from Baikonur Cosmodrome's Site 45 on December 10, 2001. Along with the 2,477-kilogram Meteor, the Zenit-2 was carrying a cluster of international payloads with the total weight of 188 kilograms. It included Moroccan MAROCTUBSAT and Pakistani BADR-R satellites. Also onboard were the Compass spacecraft developed at KB Mashinostroenia in the city of Miass and designed to test the techniques of predicting earthquakes, and the Reflector experiment developed by NII KP design bureau and designed to monitor "space junk."

All five spacecraft were inserted into a 1020-kilometer orbit with the inclination 99 degrees toward the Equator.

This launch was originally expected in December of last year, however it was continuously delayed mainly due to the problem with the US-build SAGE-III instrument installed onboard the Meteor-3M. This was the 35th launch of the Zenit rocket from Baikonur.

Cosmos 3M launches navsat

Posted: 2002 Sept. 27

The Cosmos-3M booster delivered a Nadezhda-M ("Hope") navigation satellite on September 26, 2002, after the launch from Russia's northern cosmodrome in Plesetsk.

The blastoff took place at 19:30 Moscow Time, the Russian Space Forces announced. The Nadezhda-M satellite entered a 987.4 by 1,022.1-kilometer orbit with the inclination 83 degrees toward the Equator.

The Nadezhda-M carries COSPAS-SARSAT equipment designed to relay distress signals from the ships around the world.

According to official statistics it was the 405th launch of the Cosmos-3M-type booster and the 1934th space launch from Plesetsk.

Former spysat enters Earth-watching business

Posted: 2006 June 16

A new Russian satellite based on a military reconnaissance platform joined a crowded field of commercial remote-sensing.

The Soyuz-U rocket blasted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome's Pad 5 at Site 1, on June 15, 2006, at 12:00:00.193 Moscow Time, carrying the Resurs-DK-1 No. 1 spacecraft. The payload successfully reached orbit eight minutes later, according to the official Russian sources.

PICTURE GALLERY

The original Molniya communications satellite. Copyright © 2000 Anatoly Zak

The Meteor-3M weather-forecasting spacecraft in pre-launch configuration.

Artist rendering of a cartography satellite used for both military and civilian purposes. Copyright © 2000 Anatoly Zak

The Resurs O1 spacecraft is being integrated with the Zenit-2 rocket.

Scale models of the Monitor remote-sensing platforms developed by Khrunichev enterprise. Copyright © 2001 Anatoly Zak

A full-scale prototype of the Kondor spacecraft equipped with radar-imaging payload. Copyright © 2002 Anatoly Zak

Scale model of the Kondor-E spacecraft equipped with optical imaging payload. Copyright © 2001 Anatoly Zak

MS-1TK platform developed by KB Yuzhnoe for commercial applications. Credit: KB Yuzhnoe