Classes of Soviet-Russian Photoreconnaissance Satellites

P.S. Clark (2001), JBIS, 54, 344-360

Refcode: 2001.54.344

Abstract:
During the “Soviet era” western observers of the Soviet space programme developed classifications of the photoreconnaissance satellites which were launched based upon the telemetry picked up from the satellites by the Kettering Group and the satellites’ in-orbit behaviour. Following the demise of the Soviet Union information of the official satellite classifications has been revealed, and this is compared with that of western analyses.