Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik (russian: Днепропетровский Спутник; ua, Дніпропетровський супутник), also known as DS, was a series of

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 radioiso ...

s launched by the

Soviet Union 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 nationa ...

between 1961 and 1982. DS satellites were used for a number of missions, including technological and scientific research, and radar tracking targets for

anti-satellite weapon Anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) are space weapons designed to incapacitate or destroy satellites for strategic or tactical purposes. Several nations possess operational ASAT systems. Although no ASAT system has been utilised in warfare, a few ...

s and

anti-ballistic missile An anti-ballistic missile (ABM) is a surface-to-air missile designed to counter ballistic missiles (missile defense). Ballistic missiles are used to deliver nuclear, chemical, biological, or conventional warheads in a ballistic flight trajec ...

s. 185 were launched, using dedicated Kosmos rockets.· The first DS satellite, DS-1 No.1, was launched on the

maiden flight The maiden flight, also known as first flight, of an aircraft is the first occasion on which it leaves the ground under its own power. The same term is also used for the first launch of rockets. The maiden flight of a new aircraft type is alw ...

of the Kosmos-2I 63S1 rocket on 27 October 1961. It failed to reach orbit after an

acceleration integrator In mechanics, acceleration is the rate of change of the velocity of an object with respect to time. Accelerations are vector quantities (in that they have magnitude and direction). The orientation of an object's acceleration is given by the ...

malfunctioned. A second launch attempt, with DS-1 No.2, failed due to a second stage malfunction. The third satellite, as DS-2, successfully reached orbit and was subsequently assigned the designation Kosmos 1, becoming the first satellite to be designated under the Kosmos system. Kosmos designations were assigned to all DS satellites, except those that failed to reach orbit, and a small number which was launched as part of the

Interkosmos Interkosmos (russian: Интеркосмос) was a Soviet space program, designed to help the Soviet Union's allies with crewed and uncrewed space missions. The program was formed in April 1967 in Moscow. All members of the program from USSR ...

and Oryol programmes. The last DS satellite,

Kosmos 1375 Kosmos 1375 (russian: Космос 1375 meaning ''Cosmos 1375'') was a target satellite which was used by the Soviet Union in the 1980s for tests of anti-satellite weapons as part of the "anti-satellite weapon" Istrebitel Sputnikov program. It was ...

, was launched aboard a

Kosmos-3M The Kosmos-3M (russian: Космос-3М meaning "''Cosmos''", GRAU index 11K65M) was a Russian space launch vehicle, member of the Kosmos rocket family. It was a liquid-fueled two-stage launch vehicle, first launched in 1967 and with over 42 ...

on 6 June 1982. It was a

Lira Lira is the name of several currency units. It is the current currency of Turkey and also the local name of the currencies of Lebanon and of Syria. It is also the name of several former currencies, including those of Italy, Malta and Israe ...

ASAT target, a derivative of the DS-P1-M.

References

1961 in spaceflight 1982 in spaceflight Abandoned military projects of the Soviet Union Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik program {{USSR-spacecraft-stub