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US-A

Summary

Upravlyaemy Sputnik Aktivnyy (Russian: Управляемый Спутник Активный for Controlled Active Satellite), or US-A, also known in the west as Radar Ocean Reconnaissance Satellite or RORSAT (GRAU index 17F16K), was a series of 33 Soviet reconnaissance satellites. Launched between 1967 and 1988 to monitor NATO and merchant vessels using radar, the satellites were powered by nuclear reactors.

RORSAT

Because a return signal from an ordinary target illuminated by a radar transmitter diminishes as the inverse of the fourth power of the distance, for the surveillance radar to work effectively, US-A satellites had to be placed in low Earth orbit. Had they used large solar panels for power, the orbit would have rapidly decayed due to drag through the upper atmosphere. Further, the satellite would have been useless in the shadow of Earth. Hence the majority of the satellites carried type BES-5 nuclear reactors fuelled by uranium-235. Normally the nuclear reactor cores were ejected into high orbit (a so-called "disposal orbit") at the end of the mission, but there were several failure incidents, some of which resulted in radioactive material re-entering the Earth's atmosphere.

The US-A programme was responsible for orbiting a total of 33 nuclear reactors, 31 of them BES-5 types with a capacity of providing about two kilowatts of power for the radar unit. In addition, in 1987 the Soviets launched two larger TOPAZ nuclear reactors (six kilowatts) in Kosmos satellites (Kosmos 1818 and Kosmos 1867) which were each capable of operating for six months.[1] The higher-orbiting TOPAZ-containing satellites were the major source of orbital contamination for satellites that sensed gamma-rays for astronomical and security purposes, as radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) do not generate significant gamma radiation as compared with unshielded satellite fission reactors, and all of the BES-5-containing spacecraft orbited too low to cause positron pollution in the magnetosphere.[2]

The last US-A satellite was launched 14 March 1988.

Incidents

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  • Launch failure, 25 April 1973. Launch failed and the reactor fell into the Pacific Ocean north of Japan. Radiation was detected by US air sampling airplanes.
  • Kosmos 367 (04564 / 1970-079A), 3 October 1970, failed 110 hours after launch, moved to higher orbit.[3]: 10 
  • Kosmos 954. The satellite failed to boost into a nuclear-safe storage orbit as planned. Nuclear materials re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on 24 January 1978 and left a trail of radioactive pollution over an estimated 124,000 square kilometres of Canada's Northwest Territories.
  • Kosmos 1402. Failed to boost into storage orbit in late 1982. The reactor core was separated from the remainder of the spacecraft and was the last piece of the satellite to return to Earth, landing in the South Atlantic Ocean on 7 February 1983.
  • Kosmos 1900. The primary system failed to eject the reactor core into storage orbit, but the backup managed to push it into an orbit 80 km (50 mi) below its intended altitude.[4][3]: 56, 58 

Other concerns

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Although most nuclear cores were successfully ejected into higher orbits, their orbits will still eventually decay.

US-A satellites were a major source of space debris in low Earth orbit. The debris is created two ways:

  • During 16 reactor core ejections, approximately 128 kg of NaK-78 (a fusible alloy eutectic of 22% and 78% w/w sodium and potassium, respectively) escaped from the primary coolant systems of the BES-5 reactors. The smaller droplets have already decayed/reentered, but larger droplets (up to 5.5 cm in diameter) are still in orbit. Since the metal coolant was exposed to neutron radiation, it contains some radioactive argon-39, with a half-life of 269 years. There is no risk of surface contamination, as the droplets will burn up completely in the upper atmosphere on re-entry and the argon, a chemically inert gas, will dissipate. The major risk is impact with operational satellites.[5]
  • An additional mechanism is through the impact of space debris hitting intact contained coolant loops. A number of these old satellites are punctured by orbiting space debris—calculated to be 8 percent over any 50-year period—and release their remaining NaK coolant into space. The coolant self-forms into frozen droplets of solid sodium-potassium of up to around several centimeters in size,[6] and these solid objects then become a significant source of space debris themselves.[7]

List of US-A satellites

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There were 38 Rorsat satellite launches from Baikonur, all with reported mass of 3,800 kg.[8]

Rorsat satellite launches
Launch Date Satellite Name Launch Vehicle Perigee (km) Apogee (km) Inclination (deg) Period (min)
1968 March 22 Cosmos 209 Tsyklon 876 927 65.30 103.00
1969 January 25 US-A Mass Model Tsyklon - 100 - -
1970 October 3 Cosmos 367 Tsyklon 2 915 1,022 65.30 104.50
1971 April 1 Cosmos 402 Tsyklon 2 965 1,011 65.00 104.90
1971 December 25 Cosmos 469 Tsyklon 2 948 1,006 64.50 104.60
1972 August 21 Cosmos 516 Tsyklon 2 906 1,038 64.80 104.50
1973 April 25 failure Tsyklon 2 - - - -
1973 December 27 Cosmos 626 Tsyklon 2 907 982 65.40 103.90
1974 May 15 Cosmos 651 Tsyklon 2 890 946 65.00 103.40
1974 May 17 Cosmos 654 Tsyklon 2 924 1,006 64.90 104.40
1975 April 2 Cosmos 723 Tsyklon 2 899 961 64.70 103.60
1975 April 7 Cosmos 724 Tsyklon 2 852 943 65.60 102.90
1975 December 12 Cosmos 785 Tsyklon 2 907 1,004 65.10 104.20
1976 October 17 Cosmos 860 Tsyklon 2 923 995 64.70 104.30
1976 October 21 Cosmos 861 Tsyklon 2 928 987 64.90 104.20
1977 September 16 Cosmos 952 Tsyklon 2 911 990 64.90 104.10
1977 September 18 Cosmos 954 Tsyklon 2 251 265 65.00 89.70
1980 April 29 Cosmos 1176 Tsyklon 2 873 962 64.80 103.40
1981 April 21 Cosmos 1266 Tsyklon 2 911 941 64.80 103.60
1981 August 24 Cosmos 1299 Tsyklon 2 926 962 65.10 103.90
1981 March 5 Cosmos 1249 Tsyklon 2 904 976 65.00 103.90
1982 August 30 Cosmos 1402 Tsyklon 2 250 266 65.00 89.60
1982 June 1 Cosmos 1372 Tsyklon 2 919 966 64.90 103.90
1982 May 14 Cosmos 1365 Tsyklon 2 881 979 65.10 103.60
1982 October 2 Cosmos 1412 Tsyklon 2 886 998 64.80 103.90
1984 June 29 Cosmos 1579 Tsyklon 2 914 970 65.10 103.90
1984 October 31 Cosmos 1607 Tsyklon 2 908 994 65.00 104.10
1985 August 1 Cosmos 1670 Tsyklon 2 893 1,007 64.90 104.10
1985 August 23 Cosmos 1677 Tsyklon 2 880 1,001 64.70 103.90
1986 August 20 Cosmos 1771 Tsyklon 2 909 1,000 65.00 104.20
1986 March 21 Cosmos 1736 Tsyklon 2 936 995 65.00 104.40
1987 December 12 Cosmos 1900 Tsyklon 2 696 735 66.10 99.10
1987 June 18 Cosmos 1860 Tsyklon 2 900 992 65.00 104.00
1988 March 14 Cosmos 1932 Tsyklon 2 920 1,008 65.10 104.40

See also

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References

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  • Wiedemann, C.; Oswald, M.; Stabroth, S.; Klinkrad, H.; Vörsmann, P. (2005). "Modeling of RORSAT NaK droplets for the MASTER 2005 upgrade". Acta Astronautica. 57 (2–8): 478–489. Bibcode:2005AcAau..57..478W. doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2005.03.014.
  1. ^ Regina Hagen (8 November 1998). "Summary of space-based nuclear power systems". Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  2. ^ positron pollution from TOPAZ
  3. ^ a b David. S.F. Portree; Joseph P. Loftus Jr. (January 1999). Orbital Debris: A Chronology (PDF) (Report). NASA. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  4. ^ "Spy Satellite Reactor Now in a Safe Orbit, Its Trackers Report". The New York Times. 5 October 1988. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  5. ^ Wiedemann, C.; Oswald, M.; Stabroth, S.; Klinkrad, H.; Vörsmann, P. (2005). "Size distribution of NaK droplets released during RORSAT reactor core ejection". Advances in Space Research. 35 (7): 1290–1295. Bibcode:2005AdSpR..35.1290W. doi:10.1016/j.asr.2005.05.056.
  6. ^ C. Wiedemann et al, "Size distribution of NaK droplets for MASTER-2009", Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Space Debris, 30 March-2 April 2009, (ESA SP-672, July 2009).
  7. ^ A. Rossi et al, "Effects of the RORSAT NaK Drops on the Long Term Evolution of the Space Debris Population", University of Pisa, 1997.
  8. ^ "US-A". astronautix.com. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
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  • Encyclopedia Astronautica article on the US-A RORSAT programme.
  • The US-A program and radio observations thereof
  • Leonard David (29 March 2004). "Havoc in the Heavens: Soviet-Era Satellite's Leaky Reactor's Lethal Legacy". Space.com. Archived from the original on 5 April 2004.
  • Leonard David (15 January 2009). "Old Nuclear-Powered Soviet Satellite Acts Up". Space.com.
  • Science & Global Security, 1989, Vol. 1. Background on space nuclear power. scienceandglobalsecurity.org

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