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A Molniya orbit (Russian: Молния, IPA: [ˈmolnʲɪjə] ⓘ, "Lightning") is a type of satellite orbit designed to provide communications and remote sensing coverage over high latitudes. It is a highly elliptical orbit with an inclination of 63.4 degrees , an argument of perigee of 270 degrees, and an orbital period of approximately half a ...
The ground track of a Molniya orbit. If the argument of perigee is zero, meaning that perigee and apogee lie in the equatorial plane, then the ground track of the satellite will appear the same above and below the equator (i.e., it will exhibit 180° rotational symmetry about the orbital nodes.) If the argument of perigee is non-zero, however ...
Molniya orbit: Design life: 1.5 to 5 years ... later model Molniya 1 satellites, but with an expanded number of users under the ... ground track repeats every 24 ...
A highly elliptical orbit (HEO) is an elliptic orbit with high eccentricity, usually referring to one around Earth. Examples of inclined HEO orbits include Molniya orbits , named after the Molniya Soviet communication satellites which used them, and Tundra orbits .
The first successful launch took place on April 23, 1965. Molniya 1 No. 3 was successfully launched into orbit, but it was only possible to turn on the relay after several unsuccessful attempts; the cause was apparently oxidation of the relay contacts in the power supply circuits of the relay or the ingress of a foreign particle into them[3].
For Earth this means a period of just under 12 hours at an altitude of approximately 20,200 km (12,544.2 miles) if the orbit is circular. [16] Molniya orbit: A semi-synchronous variation of a Tundra orbit. For Earth this means an orbital period of just under 12 hours. Such a satellite spends most of its time over two designated areas of the ...
The US-K and US-KS satellites developed under the Oko program were the first generation of Soviet early warning satellites. 86 US-K satellites were placed in a Molniya orbit between 1972 and 2010 and 7 US-KS satellites, of a very similar design, were placed in geostationary orbit between 1975 and 1997, the system becoming operational in 1980.
A Molniya-M carrier rocket with a 2BL upper stage was used to perform the launch, which took place at 04:39 UTC on 23 October 2007. [3] The launch successfully placed the satellite into a molniya orbit. It subsequently received its Kosmos designation, and the international designator 2007-049A. [3]