Program: Molniya
Means "flash of lightning" in Russian
Soviet telecomunication program. Satellites are placed on very excentric orbits
(460/40000 km, inclination: 63°, satellites in 8 planes separated by
45°) with a 12 hours period. Such satellites remain almost 8 hours above
the CIS, slowly drifting high in the sky.
Molniya satellites are used by the Orbita network equipped with 12 m antennas.
Mars transportable stations could also use the network with 7 m antennas.
Mission: provide long distance reliable telephone and TV links. Molniya-1 are
used for government and military communications whereas Molniya-3 are used for
TV programs.
As the first Molniya-2 satellites were launched the system became available for
Intersputnik.
The first satellite operated at 1.0/0.8 GHz. C-band (6/4 GHz) was introduced
from Molniya 1-07 on. Satellites also use L-band.
In the future, the system could be replaced by Mayak
Prime
contractor
|
NPO
PM (design OKB-1)
|
Platform
|
Molniya
|
Mass
at launch
|
|
Mass
in orbit
|
1600
kg
|
Dimension
|
|
Solar
array
|
1500
W
|
Stabilization
|
spin
stabilized
|
DC
power
|
BOL:
1000 W
|
Design
lifetime
|
2
years
|
Main
transponders
|
yes
|
Backup
transponders
|
|
Power
|
|
Bandwidth
|
|
Coverage
|
|
EIRP
max
|
|
G/T
max
|
|
Polarization
|
|
Main
transponders
|
1
to 3
|
Backup
transponders
|
|
Power
|
40
W (TWTA)
|
Bandwidth
|
|
Coverage
|
|
EIRP
|
|
Polarization
|
|
http://www.ninfinger.org/~sven/models/sovietsp/molniya.html