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Kosmos 1818

Soviet surveillance satellite

Field	Value
name	Kosmos 1818
image	Illustration of Cosmos 1818 and Cosmos 1867.jpg
image_caption	Illustration of Kosmos 1818
mission_type	Radar ocean surveillance
COSPAR_ID	1987-011A
SATCAT	17369
mission_duration	~ 5 to 6 months
spacecraft_type	Plazma-A
launch_mass	1500 kg
launch_date	UTC
launch_rocket	Tsyklon-2
launch_site	Baikonur 90
last_contact
orbit_epoch	April 15, 2014 UTC 00:20:33.89
orbit_reference	Geocentric
orbit_periapsis	775 km
orbit_apoapsis	799 km
orbit_inclination	65.01 degrees
orbit_eccentricity	0.0016868
orbit_period	100.61 minutes
apsis	gee

** Kosmos 1818** was a nuclear powered Soviet surveillance satellite in the RORSAT program, which monitored NATO vessels using radar. Kosmos 1818 was the first satellite to use the TOPAZ-1 fission reactor. In July 2008, the satellite was damaged, and leaked a trail of sodium coolant.

Description

Kosmos 1818 was launched on February 1, 1987 on a Tsyklon-2 rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It was put into an orbit about 800 km above the Earth's surface at an inclination of 65° and a period of 100.6 minutes. The satellite had a mission life of about five to six months. | access-date = 24 January 2009 | access-date = 24 January 2009

The satellite was powered by a TOPAZ 1 nuclear reactor. This was cooled by liquid sodium-potassium, NaK, metal, it used a high-temperature moderator containing hydrogen and highly enriched uranium fuel. It produced electricity using a thermionic converter. It had a Plazma-2 SPT electric engine. | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090320155317/http://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/newsletter/pdfs/ODQNv13i1.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-date = 20 March 2009 | access-date = 24 January 2009 Its mission was to search the oceans for naval and merchant vessels, using radar.

Unlike the earlier Soviet RORSAT satellites, Kosmos 1818 and its twin, Kosmos 1867, were launched into high orbits. This mitigated the possibility of mishaps resulting in uncontrolled re-entry of radioactive material, as had occurred with Kosmos 954 and Kosmos 1402, which showered the Earth with radioactive debris.

In 1992, Kosmos 1818 had an approximate visual magnitude of 3.3. | access-date = 24 January 2009

Fragmentation

About July 4, 2008, either Kosmos 1818 was hit by an object or a coolant tube cracked due to thermal stresses by repeated solar heating. The US Space Surveillance Network reported that about thirty objects were formed. These have orbital periods ranging from 100.5 to 101.5 minutes. Some of the debris appears to be metallic spheres. These could have resulted from the NaK coolant.

Russian Space Forces chief of staff General Alexander Yakushin indicated that the debris was high above the orbit of the International Space Station and did not pose any threat of radioactive contamination to the Earth.{{Citation | last = Isachenkov | first = Vladimir

References

David, Leonard. (15 January 2009). "Old Nuclear-Powered Soviet Satellite Acts Up". Space.com.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

reconnaissance-satellites-of-the-soviet-union kosmos-satellites nuclear-power-in-space 1987-in-the-soviet-union spacecraft-launched-in-1987

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