Kosmos 6 (russian: Космос 6 meaning ''Cosmos 6''), also known as DS-P1 No.1 as part of the

Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik (russian: Днепропетровский Спутник; ua, Дніпропетровський супутник), also known as DS, was a series of satellites launched by the Soviet Union between 1961 and 1982. DS satel ...

programme and occasionally in the West as Sputnik 16 was a prototype radar target

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...

for anti-ballistic missile tests, which was launched by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

in 1962.

Spacecraft

It was the sixth satellite to be designated under the Kosmos system, and the second spacecraft launched as part of the DS programme to successfully reach orbit, after

Kosmos 1 Kosmos 1 (russian: Космос 1 meaning ''Cosmos 1''), also known as DS-2 No.1 and occasionally in the West as Sputnik 11 was a technology demonstration and ionospheric research satellite launched by the Soviet Union in 1962. It was the firs ...

. It had a mass of . Its primary mission was to demonstrate the necessary technologies for radar tracking of spacecraft, which would allow future satellites to function as targets. It was the first

solar-powered Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic ef ...

satellite manufactured by Yuzhnoye.

Mission

It was launched aboard the seventh flight of the

Kosmos-2I Kosmos-2I ( GRAU Index: 11K63, also known as Cosmos-2I and also known by the designation Kosmos-2) is the designation applied to two Soviet carrier rockets, members of the R-12 Kosmos rocket family, which were used to orbit satellites between 19 ...

63S1 rocket. The launch was conducted from Mayak-2 at

Kapustin Yar Kapustin Yar (russian: Капустин Яр) is a Russian rocket launch complex in Astrakhan Oblast, about 100 km east of Volgograd. It was established by the Soviet Union on 13 May 1946. In the beginning, Kapustin Yar used technology, material ...

, and occurred at 16:00:00

GMT Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being calculated from noon; as a cons ...

on 30 June 1962. Kosmos 6 was placed into a

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

with a

perigee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion. General description There are two apsides in any ell ...

of , an

apogee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion. General description There are two apsides in any ell ...

of , an

inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a reference plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object. For a satellite orbiting the Eart ...

of 49.0°, and an

orbital period The orbital period (also revolution period) is the amount of time a given astronomical object takes to complete one orbit around another object. In astronomy, it usually applies to planets or asteroids orbiting the Sun, moons orbiting planets ...

of 90.6 minutes. It decayed on 8 August 1962. Kosmos 6 was a prototype DS-P1 satellite, the first of four to be launched. Of the other three satellites, one was lost in a launch failure on 6 April 1963, and the remaining two successfully reached orbit as

Kosmos 19 Kosmos 19 (russian: Космос 19 meaning ''Cosmos 19''), also known as DS-P1 No.3 was a prototype radar target satellite for anti-ballistic missile tests, which was launched by the Soviet Union in 1963 as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik p ...

and

Kosmos 25 Kosmos 25 (russian: Космос 25 meaning ''Cosmos 25''), also known as DS-P1 No.4 was a prototype radar target satellite for anti-ballistic missile tests, which was launched by the Soviet Union in 1964 as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik pro ...

References

Spacecraft launched in 1962 1962 in the Soviet Union Kosmos 0006 Spacecraft which reentered in 1962 Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik program {{USSR-spacecraft-stub

Spacecraft

Mission

See also

References