Gorizont (russian: Горизонт, ''Horizon''),

GRAU The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (), commonly referred to by its transliterated Russian acronym GRAU (), is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the ...

index 11F662, is a series of 35 Russian, previously

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 national ...

geosynchronous A geosynchronous orbit (sometimes abbreviated GSO) is an Earth-centered orbit with an orbital period that matches Earth's rotation on its axis, 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds (one sidereal day). The synchronization of rotation and orbita ...

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Ear ...

s launched between 1978 and 2000. The programme was started in order to develop a satellite system to relay coverage of the

1980 Olympic Games The 1980 Olympics may refer to: * 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York, United States * 1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officiall ...

from

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. The first four satellites were originally launched for this sole purpose. Following this, the Gorizont system was integrated into the YeSSS Unified Satellite Communication System, and used to relay both civilian and military communications. From 1988 onwards, the satellites were also used in support of the Okean programme. Gorizont satellites are based on the KAUR-3

satellite bus A satellite bus (or spacecraft bus) is the main body and structural component of a satellite or spacecraft, in which the payload and all scientific instruments are held. Bus-derived satellites are opposed to specially produced satellites. Bus- ...

, which provides three-axis stabilisation, and liquid manoeuvring engines. The constellation was replaced by the Ekspress constellation. The first satellite Gorizont-11L was launched on 19 December 1978 and the last satellite launched was

Gorizont No.45L Gorizont (russian: Горизонт, ''Horizon''), GRAU index 11F662, is a series of 35 Russian, previously Soviet, geosynchronous communications satellites launched between 1978 and 2000. The programme was started in order to develop a satell ...

on 6 June 2000.

Broadcast

Following the 1980 Olympics some of the surplus C-Band capacity on the satellites was used to distribute

Television in the Soviet Union Television in the Soviet Union was owned, controlled and censored by the state. The body governing television in the era of the Soviet Union was the Gosteleradio committee, which was responsible for both the Soviet Central Television and the A ...

both to relay transmitters within the

USSR 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 ...

(where the vast physical size of the country made conventional distribution to remote areas difficult) and to other

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

and allied countries for relay to Soviet troops stationed there. Later programming from other

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republi ...

countries and

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

were added. Signals from these satellites spread well outside their intended area and were for a time very popular with early domestic

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna commo ...

enthusiasts in

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

as these were among the first such signals to be receivable there. In this application Gorizont was (except at high

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north po ...

s) the successor to the '' Orbita system'' which used non-geostationary Molniya satellites. Gorizont represented an improvement in channel capacity and could be picked up on less elaborate receiving systems.

References

External links

Gorizont comsat
Communications satellites of the Soviet Union Communications satellites of Russia Satellites using the KAUR bus Communications satellite constellations Telecommunications-related introductions in 1978 {{communications-satellite-stub