Lutsch (satellite)
Lutsch ( Russian Луч for beam , also in the English spelling Luch ) is a series of Russian communications satellites .
Development and use
Similar to the American TDRS satellites, they transmit signals between spacecraft (e.g. the ISS ) and Earth. They were originally developed for communication between the Mir space station and the Buran space glider , which were equipped with appropriate systems for communicating with the Lutsch satellites.
A military version of the relay satellites called Geyzer flew on May 18, 1982 under the cover name Kosmos-1366 . In the same year the development of the later Lutsch satellites began. These were equipped with three antennas with a diameter of 1.6, 3 and 4.5 meters, which were folded in at the start, and which had been developed by the Materials Science Institute in Kiev. The unique grid material used for this required highly specialized machines for large-scale production, which were acquired by NPO PM in the Federal Republic of Germany.
The first generation was sucking on the basis of KAUR-4 - satellite bus built and was with the Arion transponder equipped by NPO Radiopribor (Ryazanskiy). The satellite had a three-axis control and solar panels of 40 square meters, which delivered an output of 1800 watts. The basic structure was the same as that of KAUR-3 , but it was equipped with completely new systems, such as a digital computer, plasma thrusters for position control and hydrazine thrusters for orbit control. The antennas had an alignment accuracy of 0.5 degrees, the satellite itself 0.1 degrees. Each satellite was equipped with three transponders and had a nominal life of five years. The modernized Lutsch-2 model allowed the simultaneous operation of two data channels with high bandwidth and enabled real-time television transmission from the Mir space station.
System configuration
So far, the Lutsch system consists of four different types of satellites:
Satellites of the first type were launched on October 25, 1985 ( Kosmos 1700 ), November 26, 1987 (Kosmos 1897), December 27, 1989 (Kosmos 2054) and on December 16, 1994 ( Lutsch-1 ). The second type, developed from 1993, started once on October 11, 1995 ( Lutsch-2 ) and on December 11, 2011 the first satellite of the third type ( Lutsch-5A ) followed. The fourth type, Lutsch-4 , has not yet been launched.
The two satellites of the Lutsch 5 series were built on the basis of the Ekspress 1000A satellite bus from the Russian company Reschentnjow. They were ordered in 2005 by Roskosmos, which after the end of the Cold War was able to fall back on non-Russian components, for example Japanese electronic components. They have a launch mass of only around 1.1 t and transmit data with a total of seven transponders at 5 Mbit / s in the S and around 150 Mbit / s in the Ku band. Their life expectancy is 10 years. Both satellites can also receive and forward signals from the COSPAS-SARSAT search and rescue system . The SDKM correction signals for the satellite navigation systems GLONASS and GPS are also distributed via Lutsch-5A / B / W and Lutsch-4 .
Start list
Surname | Type | Start date | Launcher | Starting place | Dimensions | Satellite bus | orbit | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kosmos 1700 / Altair 11L | 11F669 | October 25, 1985 | Proton -K / Block-DM-2 | Baikonur | 2400 kg | KAUR-4 | GEO 16 ° West | First communication tests with Mir on March 29, 1986, failed in September 1986 |
Kosmos 1897 / Altair 12L | 11F669 | November 26, 1987 | Proton-K / Block-DM-2 | Baikonur | 2400 kg | KAUR-4 | GEO 95 ° East | for the Buran test flight briefly moved to position 12 ° East, abandoned at the end of 1991 |
Kosmos 2054 / Altair 14L | 11F669 | December 27, 1989 | Proton-K / Block-DM-2 | Baikonur | 2400 kg | KAUR-4 | GEO 160 ° West | |
Lutsch-1 / Altair 13L | 11F669 | December 16, 1994 | Proton-K / Block-DM-2 | Baikonur | 2400 kg | KAUR-4 | GEO 95 ° East | 1997 moved to position 16 ° west |
Lutsch-2 / Gelios 12L | 14F30 | October 11, 1995 | Proton-K / Block-DM-2 | Baikonur | 2400 kg | KAUR-4 | GEO 77 ° East | Failed in 1998 |
Lutsch-5A | December 11, 2011 | Proton-M / Bris-M | Baikonur | 1148 kg | Ekspress-1000A | GEO 167 ° East | Malfunction of two of the three star sensors | |
Suck-5B | November 2, 2012 | Proton-M / Bris-M | Baikonur | 1100 kg | Ekspress-1000N | GEO 16 ° West | ||
Suck-5W | April 28, 2014 | Proton-M / Bris-M | Baikonur | 1148 kg | Ekspress-1000N | GEO 95 ° East | ||
Kosmos-2501 / Lutsch-4 | September 27, 2014 | Proton-M / Bris-M | Baikonur | 3000 kg | Ekspress-2000 | GEO 167 ° East | Ka-band transponder |
Web links
- Luch in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)
- Gunter's Space Page: Luch (Altair, 11F669)
- Gunter's Space Page: Luch-2 (Gelios)
- Gunter's Space Page: Luch-4
- Gunter's Space Page: Luch 5AB
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b russianspaceweb.com: Luch satellite
- ↑ Luch in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)
- ↑ russianspaceweb: Luch-5A
- ↑ Raumfahrer.net: Lutsch 5B and Jamal 300K started with Proton , Günther Glatzel, November 3, 2012