Gonets

Gonets

A Gonets-M satellite at Salon du Bourget in 2013.
Manufacturer	NPO Prikladnoi Mekhaniki
Country of origin	Russia
Operator	Gonets SatCom (1996-present) Roscosmos (1992-1996)
Applications	Communications
Specifications
Bus	Gonets
Launch mass	233 to 280 kg
Power	40 watts from solar panels
Batteries	Nickel-hydrogen
Equipment	UHF transponders [1] (B-band / D-band) Data rate up to 64 kbit/s
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Design life	5 years (planned)
Production
Status	Active
Related spacecraft
Derived from	Strela

Gonets (Russian Гонец, for Messenger) is a Russian civilian low Earth orbit communications satellite system. It consists of a number of satellites, derived from Strela military communications satellites. The first two satellites, which were used to test and validate the system, were launched by a Tsyklon-3 launch vehicle from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on 13 July 1992,^[2] and were designated Gonets-D.^[3] The first operational satellites, designated Gonets-D1, were launched on 19 February 1996.^[3] After launch, the first three satellites were given military Kosmos designations, a practice which was not continued with the other satellites.^[2]

Ten operational satellites and two demonstration spacecraft have been placed in orbit. A further three were lost in a launch failure on 27 December 2000. A new series of modernised Gonets satellites, Gonets-D1M, supplement and replace the satellites which are currently in orbit. A single first D1M satellite was launched by a Kosmos-3M launch vehicle on 21 December 2005.^[4] A second Gonets-D1M satellite was launched by a Rokot launch vehicle on 8 September 2010.^[4]