HUGE SOVIET SATELLITE'S MANEUVERING ELICITED SPECIAL U.S. TRACKING EFFORT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100500004-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 23, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: January 15, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/08/23: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100500004-5
0
RAT! y as ~, p _
Spedal to The New York rimes
WASHINGTON, Jan. 14 -
The Soviet Union recently
launched one of the larg-
est satellites in the his-
tory of its space program, a device.
that required special tracking efforts
by the Air Force, -according to a
spokesman for the North American
Aerospace Defense Command.
The spokesman, Kay Cormier, said
today that the A..r Force "had to bring
in extra specialists"'to follow the
satellite after its launching Sept. 28.
She said there was no precedent for
the extensive maneuvering the satel-
lite accomplished once in orbit.
"We assume it, was launched on a
Proton booster," said Marcia Smith,
an expert on Soviet space programs
at the Library of Congress's Congres-
sional Research Service. The Proton
rocket is the largest operational R u s -
THE NEW YORK TIMES
15 January, 1985
Huge Soviet Satellite's Maneuvering
Elicited Special
U.S. Tracking Effort::.
By WAYNE BIDDLE scan booster, capable of lifting 50,000- The Air Force plans to and cargoes into low orbits around s ce shuttle
e ac eel mb" a
The American space shuttle can int eed nosi intelli 00 m i
put about 32,000 pounds into a
ositi
p
on the E ut F i '
aor.romts positi
on,?
similar to that reached by the Proton- sate rte could pick launched satellite in P up signals of
Member
The ta
i
`
.
ry
nterest from the ground. Sin
Proton is comparable
to the Titan 3 the 1960's both the United States aio t.
boosters used by the United States Air the Soviet union have used such de. -;
Force to launch communications and vices to ea
reconaissancp satellites CommtlQiC$ti .
uest P
re
-
q
asses Over U.S. Big Fuel Capacity
Mrs. Cormier said the satellite, The Russian
which the Russians designated Cos- Soviet news ag~Y Tass satellite, described the
mos 1,603, is in a n- .
roughly circular September only -as ?'ce g yci.i
orbit about 528 miles high. Its orbit is tific equipment," went er y
inclined 71 degrees ugb wia
from the equator, variations in orbit after r it was"
she said, which would enable it to launched, Mrs. Cormier said. "In this
make frequent passes over the United case, there wasn't a historical data ?.
States. base to associate with it,,, she said. ?
Such orbital characteristics have in "In order to track it, we bad to make,
the vast been typical of Soviet elec- extra special effort"
tronic inte ittence gathering devices, According to figures that appeared ?;
which env esMBP on communications in the aerospace trade press after the,;
and weapons testing. September launching, the satellit?.. .
first entered an orbit about 115 miles.
high inclined slightly more than 51 de--'
grees above the Equator. Aftera day,:
a self-contained rocket lifted it to its,'
present altitude, but at an angle of,
about 66 degrees. It then maneuvered.
again to its current position.
Technicians at the Air Force fa.,.
cility in Colorado were unable to fol
low the satellite continuously as
maneuvered, Mrs. Cormier said. - `
Such radical maneuvers, which
would normally be unnecessary in.".
placing an object into a specific re- .
gion of space, would require
amounts of fuel to propel the satete?
from one orbit to another. Use of the
Proton booster, believed to be un-
precedented in putting up a single.
Russian satellite, would allow such:'
quantities of fuel to be carried along:
"It could be an engineering test of a
new upper stage," .said Marcia
Smith, referring to the rocket that'; ...
would fire the satellite from orbit to"
orbit.
,~.
According to the testimony oft-: ,
American military officials befores ?
Congress, making valuable satellites
maneuverable is one of the Primary-,
methods under study for
them from antisatellite weapons.
n
'
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/08/23: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100500004-5