Strela-1 - Strela-1 prototype. Later spacecraft in the series are believed to be similar in appearance. 26,012 bytes. 260 x 388 pixels.

The Strela communications system consisted of a large constellation of medium orbit store-dump satellites that provided survivable communications for Soviet military and intelligence forces. The larger Strela-2M model provided encrypted communications for theatre military forces. Strela-2M's were launched one at a time by Kosmos 3M launch vehicles into orbits at 800 km altitude in three orbital planes inclined 74 degrees to the equator and spaced 120 degrees apart.

The system was developed experimentally in the 1960's, with flight tests from 1965. Reshetnev was the chief designer in collaboration with the KB Krasnoyarsk Radio-Technical Factory (V G Taranenko) and MNIIRS MPSS (Yu S Bikov). The Strela-2M used the communications satellite bus KAUR-1. Flight tests of the operational system began in 1970. Production system work began in 1972. In 1974 the Strela 2M system was accepted by the military. In the period 1970 to 1994 a total of 59 Strela-2M's were launched. The satellites could be monitored in the West by their characteristic continuous wave beacon at 153.660 MHz. There have been no launches since 1994 and the Strela-3 seems to be the only system that will be operated in the future.

Strela-2M used the basic KAUR-1 bus, consisting of a 2.035 m diameter cylindrical spacecraft body, with solar cells and radiators of the thermostatic temperature regulating system mounted on the exterior. Orientation was by a single-axis magneto-gravitational (gravity gradient boom) passive system. The hermetically sealed compartment had the equipment mounted in cruciform bays, with the chemical batteries protecting the radio and guidance equipment mounted at the centre.

Total Length: 3.0 m. Maximum Diameter: 2.0 m. Total Mass: 900 kg.

Replaced Cosmos 1269.

Replaced Cosmos 1302.

Replaced Cosmos 1190.

Replaced Cosmos 1140.

Replaced Cosmos 1371.

Replaced Cosmos 1354.

Replaced Cosmos 1486.

Replaced Cosmos 1420.

Replaced Cosmos 1452.

Replaced Cosmos 1570.

Replaced Cosmos 1538.

Replaced Cosmos 1503.

Replaced Cosmos 1624.

Outer space research.

• 2 - McDowell, Jonathan, The United Nations Registry of Space Objects, Harvard University, 1997. HTML when accessed: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/QEDT/jcm/space/un/un.html
• 6 - JPL Mission and Spacecraft Library, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1997. HTML when accessed: http://msl.jpl.nasa.gov/home.html
• 102 - Voevodin, Sergey A, VSA072 - Space Apparatus, "Sergey A. Voevodin's Reports", . HTML when accessed: http://www.mcs.net/~rusaerog/sergeyv/VSA.html
• 445 - Melnik, T G, Voenno-Kosmicheskiy Siliy, Nauka, Moscow, 1997..
• 450 - Frolov, I, Kosmodrom, "Kratkiy istoricheskiy obzor sovietskikh (rossiyskikh) voennikh sredstv", No. 8, 1999, p. 21..