Cosmos (satellite)

:"For the Cosmos 1 solar sail — not part of this series — see Cosmos 1."

Cosmos is the name of a series of satellites which were launched by the Soviet Union and are being launched now by Russia. The first of them was launched on March 16 1962.

Any satellite which doesn't fit into any particular program is designated as a Cosmos satellite. As of June 28, 2007 there were 2427 Cosmos satellites launched. The satellites have very different roles, early ones were used for scientific exploration, some of them are failed interplanetary probes. It is suspected that most are military reconnaissance satellites and satellites for other military uses.

Early Cosmos satellites had typic body which could be equipped with various equipment. There were six classes, labelled Cosmos A, B, C, D, E and F (a satellite of each class would be numbered independently of this). Later satellites had different bodies.

The designation is given only to satellites which are in Earth orbit. Typically, Soviet planetary missions were initially put into an Earth parking orbit as a launch platform with a rocket engine and attached probe, which would then be launched toward its targets with an engine burn with a duration of roughly 4 minutes. If the engine misfired or the burn was not completed, the probes which would be left in Earth orbit would be given a Cosmos designation, which allowed the Soviets to claim a more successful record for their planetary exploration programs, and also may have helped further disguise genuine military satellites of the Cosmos series.

Some of the Cosmos satellites are the so-called RORSAT Radar-equipped Ocean Reconnaissance Satellites.

ome Cosmos satellites

*Cosmos 110 - first Soviet biosatellite (contained biological experiments)
*Cosmos 133 - Soviet Soyuz programme test satellite
*Cosmos 186 and 188 - Soyuz predecessor, the first ever automatic docking of satellites
*Cosmos 212 and Cosmos 213 - Soyuz programme test spacecraft
*Cosmos 238 - final test series of Soyuz programme spacecraft
*Cosmos 419 - failed Mars mission
*Cosmos 482 - failed Venus mission, crashed in south New Zealand.
*Cosmos 605 - first of the Bion series, containing biological organisms
*Cosmos 782 - first mission in which the U.S. participated in the Soviet Cosmos program
*Cosmos 954 - failed and deorbited with a full nuclear payload, contaminating an area in northern Canada

ee also

* Russian space program
* Bion (satellite)