Kosmos 215
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Kosmos 215 (russian: Космос 215 meaning ''Cosmos 215''), also known as DS-U1-A No.1, was a
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
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 ...
which was launched in 1968 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. It was a spacecraft, which was built by the
Yuzhnoye Design Bureau Pivdenne Design Office ( uk, Державне конструкторське бюро «Південне» ім. М. К. Янгеля , lit=State design bureau "Southern", named after M. K. Yangel, translit=Derzhavne konstruktors ...
, and was used to study radiation and conduct optical observations of the atmosphere of the Earth. It was equipped with eight
telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observ ...
s, including one for
ultraviolet astronomy Ultraviolet astronomy is the observation of electromagnetic radiation at ultraviolet wavelengths between approximately 10 and 320 nanometres; shorter wavelengths—higher energy photons—are studied by X-ray astronomy and gamma-ray astr ...
. It was primarily used to study the
Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
, although several other X-ray emissions were detected. A
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 ...
63SM
carrier rocket A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pads, supported by a launch control center and syste ...
was used to launch Kosmos 215 into
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 ...
. The launch took place from Site 86/4 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 ...
. It occurred at 22:29:52 GMT on 18 April 1968, and resulted in the successfully insertion of the satellite into orbit. Upon reaching orbit, the satellite was assigned its Kosmos designation, and received the
International Designator The International Designator, also known as COSPAR ID, is an international identifier assigned to artificial objects in space. It consists of the launch year, a three-digit incrementing launch number of that year and up to a three-letter code repr ...
1968-033A. The
North American Air Defense Command North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and protection ...
assigned it the catalogue number 03205. Kosmos 215 performed ultraviolet photometry of 36 A and B stars from parallel telescopes and two UV photometers with maximum responses at 274.0 and 227.5 nanometres. Its X-ray telescope was used to measure radiation between 0.05 and 0.5 nanometres. Kosmos 215 was the only DS-U1-A satellite to be launched, and the fourth DS-U1 across all variants. It was operated in an orbit 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 48.5°, 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 91.1 minutes. It completed operations on 6 June 1968. On 30 June 1968, it decayed from orbit and reentered the atmosphere.


See also

*
1968 in spaceflight The United States National Space Science Data Center catalogued 157 spacecraft placed into orbit by launches which occurred in 1968. The first crewed Apollo missions occurred in 1968. It was also the year in which Earth lifeforms first left ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kosmos 0215 Spacecraft launched in 1968 Kosmos satellites Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik program