cosmos.wikisort.org - Spacecraft

Olymp-K (Russian: Олимп-К meaning Olympus) is a Russian geostationary satellite built for the Russian Ministry of Defence and Federal Security Service (FSB). The satellite is also referred to as "Luch".[2] It is believed to be a signals intelligence satellite.[2]

Olymp-K

Mission type	Military, ELINT
Operator	FSB
COSPAR ID	2014-058A[1]
SATCAT no.	40258[1]
Mission duration	15 years
Spacecraft properties
Bus	Ekspress-2000
Manufacturer	JSC Information Satellite Systems
Launch mass	3,000 kilograms (6,600 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	28 September 2014, 20:23 (2014-09-28UTC20:23Z) UTC
Rocket	Proton-M/Briz-M
Launch site	Baikonur 81/24[1]
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric 167° East
Regime	Geosynchronous
Perigee altitude	35,780 kilometres (22,230 mi)[1]
Apogee altitude	35,798 kilometres (22,244 mi)[1]
Inclination	0.05 degrees[1]
Period	1436.24 minutes[1]
Epoch	5 October 2015, 09:00 UTC[1]

Launch

Olymp-K was launched on 28 September 2014. The Proton-M rocket with a Briz-M upper stage launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome launchpad 81/24 in Kazakhstan at 20:23 UTC.[3][1][4] After four burns of the Briz-M upper stage it was placed into geosynchronous transfer orbit.[4][1] In a press release on 28 September 2014, Roscosmos referred to the satellite as "Luch".[5]

Manoeuvres

Following its launch, the Olymp-K satellite made several manoeuvres before settling at 18.1° West longitude around 4 April 2015. The satellite was then positioned in an orbit directly between Intelsat 901, which was located at 18° West, and Intelsat 7, located at 18.2° West.[4] It remained in geosynchronous orbit between the satellites for five months. At times, Olymp-K performed colocation manoeuvres, positioning itself around 10 kilometres from the satellites.[4] In September 2015, the satellite was manoeuvred to a position at 24.4° West, adjacent to the Intelsat 905 satellite.[6] While JFCC SPACE spokesperson and Air Force Captain Nicholas Mercurio said there were three occasions where the Olymp-K satellite had come within five kilometres of another satellite, an industry source indicated that Air Force data were predictions based on drift rates and that Olymp-K's approach had not brought it closer than 10 kilometres to the Intelsat satellites.[4] As of December 2019, the satellite is located at 70.6° East Longitude.[7]

In 2018 France criticised Russia for manoeuvring the satellite close to the French Athena-Fidus satellite. Florence Parly, the French defence minister, accused Russia of "an act of espionage".[2]

Analysis and response

Intelsat criticized the maneouvres, with Intelsat General president Kay Sears saying that "this is not normal behavior and we're concerned."[4] Attempts by Intelsat to contact the owners of the Russian satellite directly and via the US Defense Department did not receive a response. Members of the space community consider the incident to be among the first documented instances of a foreign military satellite approaching a commercial operator in such a manner.[4]

In a 5 October analysis of Russian proximity and rendezvous operations written for the Space Review, Secure World Foundation technical adviser Brian Weeden highlighted Olymp-K's movements. In his paper, he wrote that many Russian space program observers believe the satellite mission involves signals intelligence or communications.[8][4] Observers also speculated whether there is a connection between Olymp-K and the Yenisey A1 (Luch 4) experimental satellite.[6] A Kommersant report indicated that Olymp-K would provide secure governmental communications as well as electronic intelligence (SIGINT).[9] Sources have also reported that the satellite has an onboard laser communications device and will provide the GLONASS system with navigation correction signals.[6]

Olymp-K's maneouvres were reported to have led to several classified meetings within the U.S. Defense Department.[4]

See also

• Kosmos 2499

References

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