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Kosmos 1867

Radar ocean reconnaissance satellite

Field	Value
name	Kosmos 1867
image	Illustration of Cosmos 1818 and Cosmos 1867.jpg
image_caption	Kosmos 1867
mission_type	Radar ocean surveillance
COSPAR_ID	1987-060A
SATCAT	18187
mission_duration	~ 11 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 14, 2014 UTC 21:26:10.75
orbit_reference	Geocentric
orbit_regime	Low Earth
orbit_periapsis	797 km
orbit_apoapsis	813 km
orbit_inclination	65.01 degrees
orbit_eccentricity	0.00111
orbit_period	100.8 minutes
apsis	gee

Kosmos 1867 () was a nuclear powered radar ocean reconnaissance satellite (RORSAT) that was launched by the Soviet Union on July 10, 1987. It was put into an orbit of about 800 km. Its mission was to monitor the oceans for naval and merchant vessels, and had a mission life of about eleven months.

Description

Kosmos 1867 was launched on July 10, 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 100.8 minutes. The satellite had a mission life of about 11 months.

The satellite was powered by a TOPAZ 1 nuclear reactor. This reactor was cooled by liquid sodium-potassium (NaK) metal, and used a high-temperature moderator containing hydrogen and highly enriched fuel. The reactor produced electricity using a thermionic converter. The satellite used a Plazma-2 SPT Hall-effect thruster for propulsion.

The mission of Kosmos 1867 was to search the oceans for naval and merchant vessels. Unlike earlier Soviet RORSAT satellites, Kosmos 1867 and its twin, Kosmos 1818, were launched into high orbits. This reduced the likelihood 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 1867 had a visual magnitude of approximately 3.3.

Kosmos 1867 had become damaged, resulting in several fragments of space debris. It is suspected that the coolant tube had leaked NaK metal, in a manner similar to Kosmos 1818 in 2008. On April 8, 2014, the US Space Surveillance Network reported that 11 new objects were detected, and 24 more objects ware reported on April 15, 2014. The coolant tube of Kosmos 1867 may have cracked due to thermal stresses by repeated solar heating, or by an impact.

References

"Cosmos 1867". N2YO.com.
"Cosmos 1867". [[NASA]].
Broad, William J.. (January 15, 1989). "Russians Disclose Satellites Carry New Reactor Type". [[New York Times]].
(January 2009). "New Debris Seen from Decommissioned Satellite with Nuclear Power Source". NASA.
(March 25, 1992). "Spacecraft Particularly Suited for International Participation: Category I". [[NASA]].
(July 2014). "Flurry of Small Breakups in First Half of 2014". NASA.

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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