Earth Orbit Tracking in the USSR/Russia

1981-1987

CHAPTER 4—SUPPORT SERVICES

GROUND-BASED SUPPORT

THE KALININGRAD SPACE FLIGHT CONTROL CENTER (TSUP)

Details of an Eastern Satellite Data Relay Network [ESDRN] lodged with the International Frequency Registration Board in 1981 show that the Soviets intend to operate a system employing frequencies of 10.82, 11.32, 13.7, and 13.52 GHz for downlink and 14.62 and 15.05 GHz for uplink (similar to the American TDRSS) for communicating with Salyut stations and other spacecraft operating in low Earth orbit. The date for the commencement of operation was given as "no sooner than December 1985." Figure 1, prepared by Sven Grahn, is an interpretation of the IFRB information.

It may well be that the experimental SHF Kosmos 1366 was a development flight related to this proposed system and that the mysterious Kosmos 1426 and Kosmos 1516 satellites, from which the Kettenng Group failed to detect transmissions, were operating with Kosmos 1366 in a TDRSS-type mode. Kosmos 1426 flew in an orbit very similar to that of a Salyut space station and, indeed, came very close to a rendezvous with Salyut 7 at the beginning of 1983 and would have been well suited to simulating a Salyut mission. During the flight of Kosmos 1516 at the end of 1983, Kosmos 1366 was stationed at 80° from where it could have relayed data from Kosmos 1516 while it was over America.

References

SOVIET SPACE PROGRAMS: 1981-87, PILOTED SPACE ACTIVITIES, LAUNCH VEHICLES, LAUNCH SITES, AND TRACKING SUPPORT PREPARED AT THE REQUEST OF Hon. ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, Chairman, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, UNITED STATES SENATE Part 1, MAY 1988, Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON, D.C. 1988

1. Aviatsiya i Kosmonavtika, December 1981, pp. 40-41.

2. Ibid.

3. U.S. Office of Technology Assessment, op. cit., pp. 57-59.

4. Tsentr Upravleniya Poretom, Mashinostroyeniye, Moscow, 1985,

5. The program was transmitted on BBC1 TV, 1605 GMT, October 19, 1987.

6. Private telephone call to G. E. Perry, 1742 GMT, October 23, 1987.

7. Kosmonavtika Entsiklopediya, op. cit., pp. 260-262.

A. SOVIET SPACE PROGRAMS: 1976-80, SUPPORTING VEHICLES AND LAUNCH VEHICLES, POLITICAL GOALS AND PURPOSES, INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN SPACE, ADMINISTRATION, RE-SOURCE BURDEN, FUTURE OUTLOOK PREPARED AT THE REQUEST OF HON. BOB PACKWOOD, Chairman, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, UNITED STATES SENATE, Part 1, Dec. 1982.

119. Trud, Moscow, Nov. 19, 1967, p. 1A.

120. Red Star, Moscow, May 16, 1968, p. 4.

121. Pravda, Moscow, Apr. 12, 1969, p. 6.

122. Izvestiya, Moscow, June 4, 1970, pp. 1, 4.

123. Dmitriyev, G. Eyes and Ears of the Earth. Moscow, Krasnaya Zvezda, June 12, 1970, p. 2.'

124. Idem.

125. Smirnov, V. Information From Orbit. Moscow, Pravda, June 9, 1970.

126. Aviation Week, New York, Nov. 5, 1973, p. 20.

127. Soviet Aerospace, Washington, May 19, 1975, p. 18.

128. Lebedev, L., and A. Romanov, Rendezvous in Space: Soyuz-Apollo, Moscow, Progess Publishers, 1979, pp. 74-77.

129. Id., pp. 72-73.

130. Ezell, E. C., and Linda N. Ezell. The Partnership: A History of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, Washington, D.C., NASA, 1978, pp. 388-389 (NASA SP-4209, 1978).

A. SOVIET SPACE PROGRAMS: 1976-80 (WITH SUPPLEMENTARY DATA THROUGH 1983), UNMANNED SPACE ACTIVITIES, PREPARED AT THE REQUEST OF Hon. JOHN C. DANFORTH, Chairman, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, UNITED STATES SENATE, Part 3, MAY 1985, Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, 99th Congress, 1 st. session, COMMITTEE PRINT, S. Prt. 98-235, U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1985

49. Special Section No. SPA-AA/343/1484 annexed to IFRB Circular No. 1484, Sept. 1, 1981.