GEO Early Warning Systems
An early warning satellite network located in GEO could significantly reduce the number of spacecraft necessary for 24-hour surveillance. (Molniya-orbit spacecraft are typically only used for 2 hr 40 min. during each 12 hour orbit.) The first USSR prototype GEO early warning space craft was actually tested in 1975, but the first operational spacecraft did not appear until 1984 in the form of Kosmos 1546. Today, 3-4 spacecraft are normally operational at 2-3 positions in the ITU-listed Prognoz series. The preferred locations are 12 degrees E, 80 degrees E, and 336 degrees E with expansion sites at 35 degrees E, 130 degrees E, 166 degrees E, and 201 degrees E.
The first three GEO early warning missions (Kosmos 1546, 1629, and 1894) apparently employed standard Oko spacecraft. The next spacecraft, Kosmos 1940, was experimental in nature with possible nuclear detonation detection sensors. The second-generation early warning satellites debuted under the Prognoz name with Kosmos 2133 in 1990. Based on a new bus similar to Lavochkin's Spektr design, the satellite apparently carries a l m diameter sensor with a 12,000 element, discrete linear detector IR array of PbS material (References 86, 92-93).
At the beginning of 1993, three Russian GEO early warning spacecraft were apparently operational: Kosmos 2133, 2209, and 2224. Kosmos 2133 and 2209 were both positioned at 336 degrees E, but during June-September 1993 the former was transferred to 80 degrees E. At the same time Kosmos 2224, which had been stationed at 12 degrees E was shifted to 336 degrees E beside Kosmos 2209. Then, in late March - early April 1994, Kosmos 2224 was returned to 12 degrees E before Kosmos 2282 was launched in July for operations at 336 degrees E. All GEO early warning satellites are launched by the Proton-K booster from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
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