EKS/Tundra early warning satellites

[B. Hendrickx]

Using a variety of online sources, it is possible to gain a fairly good understanding of the payloads for the third-generation early warning satellites called EKS/Tundra  (14F142 /14K032).

The prime contractor for the EKS/Tundra satellites is the Kometa Corporation. The bus is built by RKK Energiya. However, before RKK Energiya was given the contract, alternative platforms were studied by NPO Lavochkin, which had built the buses for all the Soviet-era early warning satellites. Early NPO Lavochkin concepts for Tundra can be seen in two patents co-authored by Anatoliy Chesnokov, NPO Lavochkin’s chief designer of the first-generation early warning satellites US-K (see attachments "patent1" and "patent2").

http://www.findpatent.ru/patent/211/2116228.html
http://www.freepatent.ru/images/patents/216/2252178/patent-2252178.pdf

The second proposal bears much resemblance to the final version of the Tundra satellites, a picture of which was published in an article written by Kometa director Viktor Misnik (see attachment "Tundra").

http://bvpa.ru/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/VKR-01_2017.pdf

[B. Hendrickx]

IRTYSH-E "STARING" PAYLOAD

Tundra’s main payload appears to be a cryogenically cooled infrared vidicon camera called Irtysh-E. This Kometa procurement document from early 2014 is about modifications to Irtysh-E for what is called “the second phase of 14K032”, possibly the geostationary component of the EKS system (the two satellites launched so far, Cosmos-2510  and Cosmos-2518, are in Molniya orbits). It also says Irtysh-E has a wide-angle and a narrow-angle channel.

http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31400836411

Irtysh-E is a modified version of a camera that was conceived at the Scientific Research Institute of Television (NIIT) in the 1980s, but never got to fly on any of the earlier generations of early warning satellites. A book published by NIIT in 2009 said its development had been dragging on for 30 years. It is not clear why the Russians decided to stick to the seemingly outdated vidicon technology. There’s a picture of it in this publication:

http://talgat.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Теория-и-практика-космического-телевидения.pdf
(see attachment Irtysh). 

Pictures of  the “wide-angle channel” (Russian acronym ShPK) and the “narrow-angle channel” (UPK) were published in this article by Kometa director Viktor Misnik (see attachments "narrow-angle" and "wide-angle").

https://glavportal.com/materials/slavnyj-put-i-uverennost-v-budushem/

The cryogenic cooling system for Irtysh-E was developed by KB Tochmash (the “Nudelman bureau”), best known for its involvement in various Soviet anti-satellite projects. In this October 2017 press release of KB Tochmash the company’s Tundra team receives congratulations on having successfully started operations with the second satellite  (launched as Cosmos-2518 in May 2017) for which the company built a “deep cooling system”.

https://www.kbtochmash.ru/kbtm-news/kbtm-news_105.html

A KB Tochmash patent for what is almost certainly the Irtysh-E cryogenic cooling system is available online. The cooling agent is argon and the system can keep the payload operational for up to 7 years (see attachment “cooling system”).

https://patents.google.com/patent/RU170671U1/ru

A barely readable machine translation of the patent is here:
https://patents.google.com/patent/RU170671U1/en

Various subsystems for the payload module such as the structural frame, honeycomb panels, radiators and antennas were built by NPO Lavochkin. This is known from an article in NPO Lavochkin’s corporate magazine and a court document, which refers to a contract signed between Kometa and Lavochkin on 27 February 2006.

https://www.laspace.ru/upload/iblock/3fa/3fa153e9efbb42aa7c48fbfa269e9b2d.pdf
https://fas.gov.ru/attachment/121122/download?1493364541

[B. Hendrickx]

SCANNING PAYLOAD

While Irtysh-E is a so-called “staring” payload, another instrument under development for EKS/Tundra is a scanning payload, which is described in this 2016 article written by specialists of Kometa.

http://www.almaz-antey.ru/upload/iblock/c14/c14759af8917f957150d21d098624b17.pdf

The article refers to the American SBIRS early warning satellites and says the scanner is intended for “Earth monitoring in the interests of national surveillance”, which looks very much like a euphemism for missile early warning. Some of the authors of the article are veterans of the Vavilov State Optical Institute (GOI), which built infrared scanning devices for the first and second-generation early warning satellites. Two pictures of the scanning payload are attached (scanner1, scanner2).

The chief designer of the payload appears to be  A.F. Vecherkovskiy, who filed a patent for a similar scanning system back in the 1990s (attachment scannerpatent).

http://ru-patent.info/20/45-49/2046369.html

An infrared detector called Granat-128 was developed for Tundra’s scanning payload by NPO Orion (formerly NIIPF). This company also designed infrared detectors (Granat-1, Granat-2, Granat-32) for the scanning payloads of the first and second-generation early warning satellites.  At least four contracts related to Granat-128  are available on the zakupki.gov.ru website. They refer to contracts signed between Kometa and the Ministry of Defense on 15 March 2002  and between Kometa and NPO Orion on 28 November 2016.

http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/documents.html?regNumber=31705542596
http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/documents.html?regNumber=31705542599
http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/documents.html?regNumber=31705545000
http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/documents.html?regNumber=31705545004

The infrared detector is described in detail in several articles published by NPO Orion, mainly in its journals “Prikladnaya fizika” and “Uspekhi prikladnoi fiziki”. There are English abstracts at the end of the articles.

http://advance.orion-ir.ru/UPF-14/1/UPF-2-1-71.pdf
http://advance.orion-ir.ru/UPF-14/1/UPF-2-1-65.pdf
http://applphys.orion-ir.ru/appl-14/14-1/PF-14-1-58.pdf
http://advance.orion-ir.ru/UPF-14/5/UPF-2-5-528.pdf
http://advance.orion-ir.ru/UPF-14/6/UPF-2-6-635.pdf
http://www.orion-ir.ru/upload/iblock/a04/a045f27f53c284c91140462f82330236.pdf

Although the articles do not directly link the detector to EKS/Tundra or even missile early warning, several factors leave no doubt that they describe Granat-128. They are made of mercury cadmium telluride (HgCdTe) elements arranged in a 1024x10 pattern. The spectral range is given both as 1-3 μm and 2-3 μm . There is a picture of the detector in one of the articles (see attachment Granat-128).

This article describes a test stand for thermal and vacuum tests of the detectors:

http://advance.orion-ir.ru/UPF-13/3/UPF-1-3-386.pdf

A contract for the delivery of this test stand was signed in the summer of 2017.

http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/documents.html?regNumber=31705215234

Since contracts for the infrared scanning system were signed relatively recently, it may still be a while before it actually flies. It is not clear if it can fly together with the Irtysh-E staring payload or needs to fly separately (as was the case in the Soviet days : the operational first-generation US-K early warning satellites flew either scanning or staring payloads).  The latest American early warning satellites (SBIRS) carry both staring and scanning sensors.

Judging from various contracts, the EKS project has three phases. Phase 1 probably refers to the current satellites in Molniya-type orbits and Phase 2 to the satellites in geostationary orbits, but it is not clear what “Phase 3” stands for. The phases may also refer to the types of payloads rather than the orbits.

[B. Hendrickx]

"BALKA" PAYLOAD

A secondary payload for EKS is called “Balka”, developed by the Scientific and Industrial Corporation 'Precision Instrument Systems’ (NPK SPP). An article in a corporate newsletter of NPK SPP describes its successful testing on the first Tundra satellite, but does not reveal the payload's purpose:

http://www.npk-spp.ru/images/stories/gazeta/01.pdf
(see p. 3)

The following procurement documentation reveals that Balka uses photodetectors called A-181A and A-181B developed by NPP Pulsar and that a contract for the development of the payload was signed between Kometa and NPK SPP on 1 July 2000 (with a follow-on contract signed on 24 April 2013).

http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31401286616

The detectors are described in this NPP Pulsar paper as being intended to register “impulse radiation in the optical and near ultraviolet parts of the spectrum”.

http://pulsarnpp.ru/Sbornik_Pulsar_2011.pdf
(see p. 96)

The same detectors are part of a payload carried by the Glonass navigation satellites. See for instance this contract:

http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31401667753

As can be inferred from this and other sources, the payloads are called BAL-M for Glonass-M, BAL-K for Glonass-K and BAL-K2 for Glonass-K2. See for instance the English abstract of this article:

https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=18823811

The purpose of these payloads is described in some detail in this article written by NPK SPP specialists:

http://naukarus.com/sistema-kosmicheskogo-monitoringa-impulsnyh-istochnikov-bolshoy-moschnosti

The detectors can be used to “monitor high-energy sources such as cosmic rays, gamma ray bursts, galactic and corpuscular radiation emitted by the Sun, lightning, volcanic activity and technogenic catastrophes”. At the same time, the article says, they are used to monitor the observance of nuclear test ban treaties, performing the same role as the Nuclear Detection System flown on the GPS/Navstar satellites. The presence of these payloads on the Glonass satellites has never been widely advertised and the nuclear detection role seems to be the most important one.

The US Nuclear Detection System actually consists of sensors flown aboard Navstar as well as Defense Support Program (DSP) early warning satellites. Russia has clearly chosen the same path by flying similar sensors on both its navigation (Glonass) and early warning (Tundra) satellites. 

This NPK SPP report refers to two Russian NDS type systems, namely Lira-M and Altair.

http://www.npk-spp.ru/images/stories/pasport_pir.pdf
(see p. 30)

Various contracts available on zakupki.gov.ru show that Lira-M is the name of the Glonass-based nuclear detection system, consisting of the space-based BAL payloads and a ground-based segment called Ground Reception and Processing Equipment (NAPOI). I’ve seen no other references to Altair, but presumably it is the Tundra-based nuclear detection system, consisting of the space-based Balka sensors and a ground-based segment that is probably similar or identical to NAPOI. The two system names do indicate that there are differences between the Glonass and the Tundra payloads, although they seem to serve the same role. 

Finally, the Tundra satellites presumably also carry a communications payload that can send firing orders to the Strategic Missile Forces, a task formerly performed by the Molniya-1T satellites.

For those interested, I will have more details on EKS/Tundra in the third in a series of articles on the history of Soviet/Russian early warning satellites that I have written for the magazine “Quest : The History of Spaceflight”. Parts I and II have already been published and Part III will appear later this year.

[B. Hendrickx]

There are apparently  plans to use the EKS/Tundra early warning satellites for experiments involving Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). This is a technique used in astronomy in which widely separated radio telescopes are used to observe celestial radio sources (such as quasars) with high resolution. It can also be used in reverse for geodetic purposes such as measuring the motion of Earth’s tectonic plates.

The plans are briefly mentioned in a report published by the Institute of Applied Astronomy (IPA) in 2017. IPA, based in St-Petersburg, operates a VLBI network called Kvazar-KVO that consists of radio telescopes in Svetloe (St-Petersburg region), Zelenchukskaya (Caucasus) and Badary (Buryatiya republic) and a correlation center in St.-Petersburg (see attached image).

The IPA report is here:
http://www.ipa.nw.ru/FANO/Organization42_rg5-2017.pdf
(p. 32-33)

СЧ ОКР «Разработка материалов по созданию радиоинтерферометра со сверхдлинной базой (РСДБ) в S -диапазоне частот» для системы 14К032 (Шифр «РСДБ-Е»)
Срок выполнения 01.09.2014 - 30.11.2015
Заказчик: ОАО «Корпорация «Комета», г. Москва

Целью выполнения работы являлась разработка материалов по созданию радиоинтерферометра со сверхдлинной базой для проведения РСДБ-наблюдений космических аппаратов в S-диапазоне частот.

The VLBI experiments are mentioned in a list of research programs carried out by IAP in 2013-2015. The project is called RSDB-E (RSDB being the Russian acronym for VBLI) and is linked to “14K032”, the designator used for the EKS/Tundra system. The goal of the project, which is led by the Kometa Corporation (the prime contractor for the Tundra satellites),  is “to create a very-long baseline interferometer to conduct VBLI observations of satellites in the S-band”.

Kometa seems to have signed a contract with IPA related to this work in early 2015:   

http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31501987397

Unfortunately, the procurement documentation published here does not shed any further light on the exact purpose of the experiments.

[B. Hendrickx]

https://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/articles/2019/09/30/812480-minoboroni-trebuet-energiya

According to the newspaper "Vedomosti" the Russian Ministry of Defense has filed a lawsuit against RKK Energiya for delays in the production of EKS/Tundra satellites. In December 2016 a top military official told the TASS news agency that 10 satellites were expected to be launched before 2020. So far only three have been placed into orbit. The lawsuit also concerns delays in the production of 14S48 upper stages for the Angara-A5 rocket.

[B. Hendrickx]

Russia's space-based early warning system seems to have had a change of name and is now called Kupol (cupola, dome).

https://tass.com/science/1100559

MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/. Russia has replaced its Oko-1 orbital missile early warning system with new Kupol satellites, according to the materials for a briefing by Chief of the Russian General Staff Army General Valery Gerasimov who spoke at a meeting with foreign military attaches on Tuesday.

In his presentation, the chief of Russia’s General Staff demonstrated slides that showed the structure of the country’s missile early warning system. Specifically, the slides showed a satellite with the caption: satellite of the Kupol integrated space system.
The general noted at the presentation that in 2019 Russia launched another satellite of the integrated space system, which enhanced its capabilities for detecting ballistic missile launches. Russia’s Defense Ministry earlier reported that the new system’s satellites were called Tundra. The first such satellite was launched in 2015.

The Oko-1 orbital grouping comprised eight satellites and ceased to operate in 2014.

As of now, the new orbital grouping comprises three satellites, including the space vehicle orbited this year. Overall, nine new satellites are set to be launched by 2022.

The slide showing Kupol can be seen in this Ministry of Defense report on Gerasimov's briefing (which itself does not say anything about Kupol):

https://function.mil.ru/news_page/country/more.htm?id=12267331@egNews

[B. Hendrickx]

A more likely explanation is that Kupol is the general name for the space-based early warning system and that Tundra is the specific name for the satellites deployed in highly elliptical Molniya-type orbits. There may then be yet another name for the satellites to be launched into geostationary orbit. These are also being developed by RKK Energiya and will be launched by the Angara-A5 from Plesetsk. Their likely military index is 14F154. This is known to be a designator for a satellite under development at RKK Energiya and to be launched by Angara-A5.

[Olaf]

https://twitter.com/anik1982space/status/1209511124187697152

[Olaf]

https://twitter.com/anik1982space/status/1209500856829272064
Google translation
Shoigu said today that in 2020 it is planned to launch the fourth satellite “Kupol” of the Unified Space Detection and Combat Command System

[B. Hendrickx]

In an interview with the "Krasnaya Zvezda" ("Red Star") newspaper published today Deputy Defense Minister Aleksei Krivoruchko provided some details on the capabilities of Russia's EKS space-based early warning system. He said it can detect not only launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched missiles, but also of intermediate range missiles, short range missiles and space rockets. The system has detected 64 launches of ballistic missiles (including 35 non-Russian missiles) and 136 space launches (including 97 non-Russian launches). He described EKS as good as America's SBIRS early warning system.

The interview was published here:
http://redstar.ru/fundament-oboronosposobnosti-otechestva-nadyozhen/?attempt=1

However, by the evening the information on EKS had been deleted from the interview, indicating that some considered it too sensitive for public consumption. That was, of course, much too late, because numerous Russian news outlets had already spread the information, such as this one:

https://rg.ru/2019/12/28/eks-rossii-kontroliruet-vse-rajony-zapuska-ballisticheskih-raket.html

 

[zubenelgenubi]

Deputy Defense Minister Aleksei Krivoruchko: He described EKS as good as America's SBIRS early warning system.

I'm sure EKS is much "better" than Oko, but that sounds like boast to me (for internal consumption?).

Is there enough "open" information for outsiders even to attempt an apples to apples comparison?

[B. Hendrickx]

Deputy Defense Minister Aleksei Krivoruchko: He described EKS as good as America's SBIRS early warning system.

I'm sure EKS is much "better" than Oko, but that sounds like boast to me (for internal consumption?).

Is there enough "open" information for outsiders even to attempt an apples to apples comparison?

Let's compare what we can.

https://missiledefenseadvocacy.org/defense-systems/sbirs-geo-1/

SBIRS currently consists of four GEO satellites and three HEO sensors.

The Russians have three Tundra/Kupol satellites in highly-elliptical orbits. They are known to be working on geostationary early warning satellites (to be launched by Angara-5), but none have been launched so far. What we can probably conclude from that is that SBIRS currently has better coverage than EKS.

The first-generation Oko satellites in highly-elliptical orbits were mainly used to keep an eye on ICBM fields in the continental US. Because the Soviet-era sensors had trouble seeing missile plumes against the background of an illuminated Earth, they looked at the ICBM fields under a grazing angle (from an apogee over the Atlantic Ocean) so that they could see missile launches against the backdrop of space. The second-generation Oko satellites (in geostationary orbit) were supposed to provide global coverage and have the capability of seeing missile plumes against the background of Earth (making it possible to see submarine-launched missiles), but there were some reports suggesting they never lived up to expectations.

I've not yet seen an analysis of the orbits of the current EKS satellites in HEO (where are their apogees?), but judging from Krivoruchko's comments, they can see launches of land-based and submarine-based ICBMs as well as short-range theater missiles. The ability to see theater missiles was one of the main new features of the SBIRS satellites (the need for which became evident after the use of Scud missiles by Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War), so one can assume that this is indeed a capability that the Russians also wanted to achieve with the EKS satellites.

The GEO payload consists of two infrared sensors: a scanning sensor and a step-staring sensor. The scanning sensor aboard the GEO satellite is able to continuously scan the earth to provide 24/7 global missile warning coverage and collect data that contributes to theater and intelligence missions. The step-staring sensor is designed for theater missions and intelligence areas of interest, since it contains a highly-accurate pointing and control system and is highly-agile with a fast revisit rate and high sensitivity. The three HEO sensors are scanning sensors similar in nature to the GEO scanning sensors, but sensor pointing is performed by slewing the full telescope on a gimbal.

As far as we can tell from openly available information (see the first posts in this thread), the Russian HEO satellites only have staring sensors. A scanning sensor is under development, but it is not clear whether that is intended for the HEO satellites, the GEO satellites or for both. I wouldn't dare to speculate though in what way the likely absence of scanning sensors on the current EKS satellites affects their capabilities compared to SBIRS.

I think it is also safe to assume that US infrared sensors have a higher sensitivity than their Russian counterparts, simply because America's microelectronics industry is more advanced.

[input~2]

I've not yet seen an analysis of the orbits of the current EKS satellites in HEO (where are their apogees?),

Here are the orbits according to latest TLEs:

Kupol-1 (Kosmos-2510): 1627 x 38734 km x 63.00° Kupol-2 (Kosmos-2518): 2349 x 38013 km x 63.27° Kupol-3 (Kosmos-2541): 1550 x 38802 km x 63.82°

Apogees are above Eastern Siberia and Southern Greenland

[B. Hendrickx]

While the EKS constellation is being gradually expanded with satellites in highly elliptical orbits (HEO), the status of the geostationary component of the EKS system is unclear.
 
The EKS project officially got underway  on March 15, 2002  with a contract signed between the Ministry of Defense and the Kometa Corporation, the prime contractor. RKK Energiya was assigned to develop the satellite bus by a government contract on July 31, 2007.  Apparently, this was only for the satellites in highly elliptical orbits (14F142). These probably use an RKK Energiya platform called Viktoriya or UKP. This platform also has a version tailored for use in geostationary orbit, so it is likely to assume that RKK Energiya was also tasked with building the geostationary early warning satellites.

In RKK Energiya’s annual report for 2013 mention was made of a satellite designated 14F154, presumably the geostationary early warning satellite.  Procurement plans of the Khrunichev Center for 2015 showed that this was a payload scheduled to be launched by the Angara rocket, which is indeed the rocket required to launch geostationary payloads from Plesetsk.

It now turns out from court documents published in 2018 that 14F154 was developed under a project called Romashka (“chamomile”), but that it was canceled in 2015.

https://kad.arbitr.ru/Card/0e83e784-0ca4-43e8-84fa-e5a0b7fec330

The documents describe a legal dispute between RKK Energia and PAO Saturn, a manufacturer of solar panels and batteries based in Krasnodar. They show that the Romashka project started on August 6, 2012 with a contract (nr. 1042/ZК/2012/DRGZ) signed between the Ministry of Defense and RKK Energiya. On January 28, 2014 RKK Energiya and PAO Saturn signed a contract for the delivery of lithium-ion batteries for 14F154 which in turn would use a control system developed by the Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radioelectronics (TUSUR). However, in July 2015 RKK Energiya was notified by the Ministry of Defense that work on Romashka was being suspended and in December 2015 the project was canceled.     

Still, there are some signs that work on the geostationary component of EKS continued afterwards:

- in May 2016 an anonymous source in the space industry was quoted as saying by the Interfax-AVN news agency that the GEO satellites had not yet been manufactured because the design might have to be adapted on the basis of the test flights of the HEO satellites. That would indicate that it was still an active program at the time.
https://www.militarynews.ru/story.asp?rid=1&nid=413012&lang=RU

- RKK Energiya’s annual report for 2017 mentioned ongoing work to determine the design of a geostationary “communications satellite”, which presumably was a reference to an early warning satellite. In the preceding paragraph the report had misleadingly referred to an RKK Energiya satellite launched in May 2017 as a “communications satellite”, while it was clearly the second Tundra (Kosmos-2518).

- in 2017 work was continuing on a new-generation infrared detector for EKS “phase 3”, which is probably the geostationary component of EKS (as can be deduced from a handful of other sources). Work on that detector began under a government contract signed between the Ministry of Defense and the Kometa Corporation on August 1, 2012 (which, coincidentally or not, was just five days prior to the official start of the Romashka project). See this court documentation published in 2017: 

https://kad.arbitr.ru/Card/41e1872a-1470-4be8-aa6d-086cc90fd6df

The work was called “Kosmos-IK” (“IK” standing for “infrared”).  In January 2017 the detector was officially included in “technical planning for the full EKS constellation”. It is not entirely clear if this is the same detector as the one called Granat-128, known to be under development for an EKS infrared scanning payload  (see Reply 2 in this thread).

In short, there is contradictory information on the status of the GEO constellation. While Romashka was canceled in December 2015, there is some evidence that work on the geostationary component of EKS continued afterwards. Of course, Romashka/14F154 may not have been part of EKS at all, but it is difficult to explain its purpose otherwise. Hopefully, new information will shed more light on all this.

 

[B. Hendrickx]

https://www.militarynews.ru/story.asp?rid=1&nid=535913&lang=RU

RKK Energiya general director Igor Ozar told Russian media on Wednesday that after the launch of the fourth satellite last May, Russia’s fleet of early warning satellites has now reached its “nominal minimal configuration“. He said the satellites in highly elliptical orbits are capable of detecting ballistic missile launches both from land and from the oceans. He referred to the satellites as Tundra and to the EKS system as a whole as Kupol. This means that the name Kupol has not replaced Tundra, as some had speculated. The satellites and the system are also known by their military code names 14F142 and 14K032.

RKK Energiya builds the platform of the Tundra satellites and integrates it with the payload, which is supplied by the Kometa Corporation. Kometa acts as the prime contractor for the EKS program, having received a contract from the Ministry of Defense for EKS on March 15, 2002. Kometa then subcontracted work on the satellites to RKK Energiya on March 18, 2004 (not July 31, 2007 as I mentioned in the previous post. This was the start date of an RKK Energiya military project called OREST, presumably related to space-based electronic warfare).

Incidentally, William Graham’s article on the latest Tundra launch included an exploded view of the satellite’s payload section (see attachment 1). It seems to have been originally published online in a tweet in August 2019 and was apparently shown by Kometa at the MAKS 2019 aerospace show. One can only conclude that the classification level of Tundra is not as high as that of some other Russian military satellites…

In the previous posting I talked about a military project called Romashka which involved satellites with the code name 14F154. It was assigned by the Ministry of Defense to RKK Energiya in August 2012, but was canceled in late 2015. I speculated that it might have been the geostationary component of EKS, but there are indications that this is still under development. Also, if Romashka was related to EKS, the prime contractor should have been the Kometa Corporation and not RKK Energiya. More likely, the geostationary component of EKS was approved along with the HEO component back in 2002 and is still supposed to be deployed later this decade, although priority will initially be given to the HEO satellites.

A more plausible explanation for Romashka is that it was what was described in several RKK Energiya annual reports as “an experimental space system for personal satellite communications”. This is mentioned in the reports for 2013, 2014 and 2015, coinciding with the development period of Romashka. The 2013 report said the work was being conducted in the framework of a government contract (like Romashka), so it was not a mere paper study. It was described as a geostationary system to ensure “regional satellite communications in the European part of the Russian Federation”. There is no mention of this system in other sources (not even in a voluminous book describing RKK Energiya’s activities in the 2011-2015 period), most likely meaning it was being developed for the Ministry of Defense.

Presumably, this was some type of military mobile satellite communications system, not unlike the American Mobile User Objective System (MUOS). Mobile satcom systems in geostationary orbit require the use of large antennas. RKK Energiya is not a complete newcomer to the development of such structures. In the mid-2000s the company’s ZEM factory manufactured an experimental 12m reflector antenna called 12AKR. Work on a mock-up of another large-size antenna got underway in 2009, according to RKK Energiya’s annual report for that year. An RKK Energiya patent for a large-size antenna published in 2012 is probably related to that latest work (see attachment 2).

https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/90/55/81/f16928f31ef2e5/RU2442249C1.pdf
English machine translation here:
https://patents.google.com/patent/RU2442249C1/en

Although it’s dangerous to interpret Russian satellite names, Romashka (“chamomile”, a daisy-like flower) could refer to the shape of the antenna.   

It should be noted that ISS Reshetnev was simultaneously working on another mobile satellite communications system called SSKMS. Although ordered by Roskosmos, it may have had a dual civilian/military role. Possibly, the similar nature of the work and ISS Reshetnev’s much stronger reputation in the field of communications satellites conspired to doom Romashka.   

 

[B. Hendrickx]

An overview of our current knowledge of EKS in this week's edition of The Space Review:

https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4121/1

Much of this has already been discussed in this thread, but new information has been added, including more evidence that Tundra's imaging payload is a modified version of a vidicon TV system (Irtysh) originally developed in the 1980s for a Soviet early warning satellite project. More also on the geostationary satellites, new payloads under development (an infrared scanning system a well as an ultraviolet instrument) and the ground control segment.

During the research I stumbled on two drawings of Tundra which appeared in a 2014 presentation of the Kometa Corporation (EKS' prime contractor). The presentation deals with the effects of radiation on electronic components of satellites and does not mention EKS or Tundra by name, but it is clear that this is the satellite being discussed.
http://www.myshared.ru/slide/903127/


 

[Nicolas PILLET]

Congratulations for this great work.

[Stan Black]

It may have the index 14S022…

https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4121/1

Принимал активное участие в разработке и изготовление изделий 14С022.3100-0 – Панель ОДУ (Тундра), 585ГК.3100-0 – Панель ОДУ (Космический аппарат «Ангосат»), 559ГК.40Ю0300-0 – Панель двигательной установки (Спутник связи «Egyptsat-A»).

https://www.superjob.ru/resume/nachalnik-ceha-42570687.html

[B. Hendrickx]

It may have the index 14S022…

https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4121/1

Принимал активное участие в разработке и изготовление изделий 14С022.3100-0 – Панель ОДУ (Тундра), 585ГК.3100-0 – Панель ОДУ (Космический аппарат «Ангосат»), 559ГК.40Ю0300-0 – Панель двигательной установки (Спутник связи «Egyptsat-A»).

https://www.superjob.ru/resume/nachalnik-ceha-42570687.html

I speculated in the article that 14S022 may be the index for Tundra's service module, which is produced by RKK Energiya. The above quote from the CV of an RKK Energiya engineer is one of the sources of information that led me to that conclusion (although it was not included in the references). It links 14S022 to the "ODU" of Tundra, which is the acronym for "combined engine unit", usually used for liquid-fuel propulsion systems of satellites. 14S022 is also seen in this court document involving KB Khimmash (the former Isayev bureau, now part of the Khrunichev Center), which builds such propulsion systems:

https://sudact.ru/regular/doc/xD952KqsbpVa/

The document that I did reference in the article talks about the delivery of star trackers for 14S022. Another court document says 14S022 has a reaction wheel called Koler-E produced by NII KP. It also seems to refer to the solar panels ("BS") of 14S022.
https://sudact.ru/arbitral/doc/8LFheRUcxXdj/

All this taken together strongly points to 14S022 being the designator for the service module. The latter document mentions 14S022 nr. 1 to 6, suggesting RKK Energiya was ordered to produce an initial batch of six Tundra satellites. Confusingly, it also seems to imply 14S022 nr. 1 was still on the ground in 2016, which was after the first Tundra launch in November 2015. However, this may well be an inaccuracy (not at all unusual in these court documents). The document also mentions elements called 14S021 (no idea what that is) and 14S144 (possibly the "upper composite", that is the combination of the satellite, the upper stage and the payload fairing).