Kosmos 6

Kosmos 6 (Russian: Космос 6 meaning Cosmos 6), also known as DS-P1 No.1 and occasionally in the West as Sputnik 16 was a prototype radar target satellite for anti-ballistic missile tests, which was launched by the Soviet Union in 1962. It was the sixth satellite to be designated under the Kosmos system, and the second spacecraft launched as part of the DS programme to successfully reach orbit, after Kosmos 1. Its primary mission was to demonstrate the necessary technologies for radar tracking of spacecraft, which would allow future satellites to function as targets. It was the first solar-powered satellite manufactured by Yuzhnoye.^[1]

It was launched aboard the seventh flight of the Kosmos-2I 63S1 rocket.^[2] The launch was conducted from pad 2 of the Mayak Launch Complex at Kapustin Yar, and occurred at 16:00 GMT on 30 June 1962.^[3]

Kosmos 6 was placed into a low Earth orbit with a perigee of 261 kilometres (162 mi), an apogee of 348 kilometres (216 mi), 48.90 degrees of inclination, and an orbital period of 90.6 minutes.^[1] It decayed on 8 September 1962.^[4]

Kosmos 6 was a prototype DS-P1 satellite, the first of four to be launched,.^[1] Of the other three satellites, one was lost in a launch failure, and the remaining two successfully reached orbit as Kosmos 19 and Kosmos 25.^[5]

See also

• 1962 in spaceflight

References