Kosmos 1 ( meaning ''Cosmos 1''), also known as DS-2 No.1 and occasionally in the West as Sputnik 11 was a

technology demonstration A technology demonstration (or tech demo), also known as demonstrator model, is a prototype, rough example or otherwise incomplete version of a conceivable product or future system, put together as proof of concept with the primary purpose of show ...

and

ionospheric The ionosphere () is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about to above sea level, a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere. The ionosphere is ionized by solar radiation. It plays ...

research

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

launched by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in 1962. It was the first satellite to be designated under the Kosmos system, and the first spacecraft launched as part of the

Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik (; ), also known as DS, was a series of satellites launched by the Soviet Union between 1961 and 1982. DS satellites were used for a number of missions, including technological and scientific research, and radar tracking t ...

programme to successfully reach

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an ...

History

Kosmos 1 was a DS-2 satellite, the first of two to be launched. The second, ''DS-2 No.2'', was launched on 1 December 1964, but did not reach orbit after the

payload fairing A payload fairing or nose fairing is a nose cone used to protect a launch vehicle, spacecraft payload (air and space craft), payload against the impact of dynamic pressure and aerodynamic heating during launch through an atmosphere. An additiona ...

of the launch vehicle carrying it failed to separate. The DS-2 was a scaled-down version of the earlier DS-1 satellite, without the cylindrical section for

avionics Avionics (a portmanteau of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the Electronics, electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, Air navigation, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, and the ...

, which was built after the first two DS-1 spacecraft failed, ''DS-1 No.1'' on 27 October 1961, and ''DS-1 No.2'' on 21 December 1961, to reach orbit.

Spacecraft

Its primary missions were to measure the performance of its

launch vehicle A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage ...

, and to conduct research into the ionosphere. It had a mass of .

Mission

It was launched on

Kosmos-2I The Kosmos (also spelled Cosmos, Russian: ) rockets were a series of Soviet and subsequently Russian rockets, derived from the R-12 and R-14 missiles, the best known of which is the Kosmos-3M, which has made over 440 launches. The Kosmos fami ...

63S1 s/n 6LK launch vehicle. It was the third flight of the Kosmos-2I, and the first to successfully reach orbit. It was also the first Kosmos launch vehicle of any type to successfully place a satellite into orbit. The launch was conducted from Mayak-2 at

Kapustin Yar Kapustin Yar () is a Russian military training area and a 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 11:59 GMT on 16 March 1962. Kosmos 1 was placed into a

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...

with a

perigee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides perta ...

of , an

apogee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides perta ...

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 93.1 minutes. It decayed on 25 May 1962.

References

{{Orbital launches in 1962 Spacecraft launched in 1962 Kosmos satellites 1962 in the Soviet Union Spacecraft which reentered in 1962 Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik program Technology demonstration satellites Geospace monitoring satellites

History

Spacecraft

Mission

See also

References