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-ar--~ DECLASSIFIED UNDER AUTHORITY OF THE INTERAGENCY SECURITY CLASSIFICATION APPEALS PANEL EOl3526 SECTION 53(b)(3)

ISCAP APPEAL NO 2009-068 document no 237 DECLASSIFICATION DATE May 142015

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WEEKLY INTELLIGENCE REVIEW (U) -

SPECIAL HANDLING REOUIRfO This document is 1clcasa~le only

to US and Canadian Nationals

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RlCsAimiddot d 0si(uJs 31S BRiigtliltiliT middotmiddotEl OWN AFTER r~-M Y MISSION ~ COSMOS 322 A IH~GSAl M

ll -day misslon cgtIgtecu)~middot C OSMQS J2 1 JS Zd PiD~AIll LA UNCHED FROMPUESElSIl rN 191o MrSSroN Not KNOWN -~

Launc-hed oymiddot sr~-7 middot ~ middot middot middotshysovr-ET SLENCE AQDS T O MYS~ERY OF b-1 _051P AY LOADS LAUNCHJm FROM PLESErSK BY SL- 7 -t7

Mi bull a_i on middotdtit~Hs r~Hcl tashyn nvlt r armouncud DE$1GNoTQ~S OF SQVlEt SPACE PilOPUJ-SlON $YSfEMS LISIfD tU) bRQe1Nn-aAsEo coMPOTRS - f~rcatb In PARALLEl FOR SPACJi~ yenf5s~j)N SU PPORTft

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RlCsAimiddot d 0si(uJs 31S BRiigtliltiliT middotmiddotEl OWN AFTER r~-M Y MISSION ~ COSMOS 322 A IH~GSAl M

ll -day misslon cgtIgtecu)~middot C OSMQS J2 1 JS Zd PiD~AIll LA UNCHED FROMPUESElSIl rN 191o MrSSroN Not KNOWN -~

Launc-hed oymiddot sr~-7 middot ~ middot middot middotshysovr-ET SLENCE AQDS T O MYS~ERY OF b-1 _051P AY LOADS LAUNCHJm FROM PLESErSK BY SL- 7 -t7

Mi bull a_i on middotdtit~Hs r~Hcl tashyn nvlt r armouncud DE$1GNoTQ~S OF SQVlEt SPACE PilOPUJ-SlON $YSfEMS LISIfD tU) bRQe1Nn-aAsEo coMPOTRS - f~rcatb In PARALLEl FOR SPACJi~ yenf5s~j)N SU PPORTft

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sig nifi cant

fntei ligence

egtn space

demiddotv e Io p ni e-n ts

and trends

Recsat CosmDs middot318 Brought Down Afhr 12-Day Mission~ middot

Glt)smos 3l8 011) nl )lita~y zeeoturaissance ~ate-~lit-e whi cll the Soviets lannlth e d frorn TyuFatam Oil ~- Januaxy was deorbited early on Revoh1shyLion 102 afl e r 3- tn1Smiddotsicn of nearJy 1~ da ys n iS estimated to ba~e-1~shypart e d at aboqt 07-02 Z 1n tht~ g_cnemiddotral area middotof coorqinates middot5145N bull 55-50E o-r at~OIt 30 1i m bull t~ ast uf Or eriburg middot middot

Th-is raft ar ricd a Jow - rq$9lqtio1-l c ~tlH~JCJl S tem qnd E LINT~~ ellec shyti)n g~r bm it may as~ have ltarrhd an mftared -eainera systetrl ll Va~ rhe So~i~tsbull rira c rateltite tavtni$ill tliis yeftr (NORAD) (~emiddotcRET)

middotcosmos 322 A Recsat J8r

Co$trtos s_aa whiolt tne $-pvii~t middot~ l~limiddotnched fJ middot~se~~k at tap~ 1~~-fl~ 21 Jarwatymiddot ~ js ~- ngtiltt 2lh~ ~f~middot Qnn~-i~Sanoe sr~tc_middot hi-cJ~ ~rzi~ ~nti~shyresohttion tarnera systCtn It iltS middotexpt~ct~d middott-o p(fi~~_fi~~l an amp-dAy tNiilai(i)n

This recsa-t wamiddots 14~-ehed abettt 4 S hetliJ~ ~tcd~eotJgttr ollCecent~la-t -Coam~s 318 (N~ttADl (SEGIET)

Cosmiddotmos_321 is2dPaymiddotload laumched frmp Plesetsk h11970 Misslon Jlot Known middot~ ~ middot - shy

bull bull j~ 1- ~ middot I middot~ bull ~ bull ~ middot r middot lA--e Sov1--ets la~~nQ rnQs 321 ~~Jli)i-~~e- ~ltle$~tskS~altei- middotMJssile

Contple~ by Gill $1~ 1-p middot n ay~~m ~j~t ~zQ~ - ~_0 Jani~y 1ilis is the second ~p~~middot-r ~ J~b-ed trPl~ Rles t~k ~~hfs yeamiddotr llJy the S-4-7 NORAD S2ace De~e-ns ~ -te~ni eu reparts il$ uroilal _paTa~ete rS as fol1ows

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SCCYCt _ ramp bull ~--~yen~ -----------~----------------------------Inclination 71 degrees Period 9l 06 minutes Apogee 481 80 km (260 n m) Perigee 2 7 3 4 6 km (147 n m )

The WIR has been refe-rrfng to payloads lc~unc~ed from Plesetsk by the SL- 7 as environmental research satellites The fact is that the exact mission oi these craft is not known (See next item (NOR AD) (SECRET)

SovietS Hence Adds to Mystery of Most Payloads Launched from Plesetsk by SL- k8f

The misslon of m ost of the small (400-800 pounds) nonrecoverable pay- loads launched itmiddotom Plesetsk by the SL-7 propulsion system (plus a few ptmiddotototypes Jaunched fr0m Kapustin Yar -- KYt is not known to the West The mission wh~tevel it is appears tQ he cla~siiied judging by Soviet secretiveness about mission results

The satellites ia question have all been launched by the SL-7 propulshysion s-stem (with modlfied upper sta~e) --the S0vietst smallest-- into relativemiddot eccentric orbits with eriods of about 2 or 102 minutes

I 25Xl and 3 E013526 Having moderately

low perig~es their liiethnes have not been very long All have been given Co~mos -series designations

History The first few members o this series were launched from Kapustin Yar into orbits of about 49middot-deg-ree inclination Five (Cosp1osemiddots 36 76 101 116 and 123) were l~u~ctred between mid -1964 and mid -1966 They had periods o~ about 92 tnmiddotinlites their a-ppgees ranged Jrmiddotom about 4 75 to 550 kilometers (256 to 297 n~ m) and theibullti perigees ranged between about 260 and 290 kilometers 141 to 156 n m

Following a hiatus opound about 8 months the Soviets began to lalmch simishylar payloads with their SL-7 from Pleset$lc Thus those launched from KY may hafe represented a developmental stage Thmiddotose launched ftom Ple~etsk were higher- Ln Eq-uatorial inclination -- either aboit 71 d e grees or ab0ut 82 degrees The 71-degree payloads were at first similar in apogee peri shygee and period to the KY laUX-Ches but later were more varied The 82shydegree payloads were m middotore eccentric bullin Omiddotrhital prameters having higher apogees middot(about 1550 kilometers -- s-~ 7 n m) and ewer perigees (about 210 kilometer-s-- 112 nm) shy

The launcb rat~ has increased siu-cemiddot the progrm was t-ransJe-rred to Plesetsk Flve were launched in 1967 (Cos-mo~~s 152 165 ri3 176 and 191) five in 1968middot (Cosmos 211 2middot22 3J middot245 Cl-nrl 257) seven in 19(i9middot

CJ WIB 570 30 Janmiddot 70

secret

ir111i(Cosmoses 65 277 283gt 285 303 311 and 314) and two in the iirst 20 days of 19 70 (Cosmoses 319 nQ 321) (Chart o-n page 39)

The pat tern may have J)een brolqan with the 18 October l~unch from KY -of Co~mos 307 whicll is suspect ed opound bein8 a member o-f this middotseries li it is then the Soviets have launched 6 such payloads in abolt 3 months a very rapid launch rate

Tele m e try AnalYsis of theI are regularly activLe-vbullb_e_n~t-h-e_s_a_t~e-l-l--it~e-s_a_r_e----in_s_un--l-i-g7h--t----B-ut--t-h-ey

are not necessarily st-udying solar phenomena The pe-riodicity of these signals suggcsmiddott an almo~1 ~ertain asspci~tioP with the satmiddotellite s spin A theoretical simulation indi~ates that the d~ta pick-ttps are probably Hat-plate detectors surroipded by a shallow shield Apparently arranged in groupmiddots opound 3 with one groupmiddot in each hemisphere of the payload they probshyably a-re used to determine the a loads attitude at a

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I 25Xl and 3 E013526

T ransmitting lifetimes have ~ot he~p lQn-g (3 or 4 months b11-t long lifeshytimes are not needed becmiddotause the p~w+oa~s ba~e exp~den-ced orbital de(a_y in a short time (3 t o 7 mtmths-) be-cquse of their relatively low perig-ee~ and modermiddotate drag characteristics

The power suppiy for th~ payloads 1 t~~nsmission~ a ears to be a reshyliable s $tem ( rob-abl middotchemical batteries)

I 25Xl and 3 E013526

~~e~e~x~e~t~_--------~--------------------------~----- r

Ditinctians from Othe~ SL~ 7 Pii~y1aads Themiddotse sat~ilitegtS se~ro to represhysent a $eries di~tinct 6Qm other payloads launch~d by the SL-7 The other-s are tnOmiddot+-e v~~ied in orbital parameters and tr-ansmiddotmitting frequenshycies and some of theto aremiddot solar-battery powered

The greatest dJshnctiOn however~ seeIlls to be the Soviets silence about missions and ope~ating results When these craft were launched TASS said only that they were performing the usua1 Cosmos re-search mission Such announcements are meani~gles-smiddot because

bull The GosmoS mission c-an cover ~11Y of several mismiddotsitgtns I such as study of middotany of semiddotveral t-rpes- opound space J~diatiQn otto solar radiation studies oi micTometeorite denSity -study of the ionosph-ere photo_gshyraphy oi clo~d cover tes~ o~ spacec~aft components -o system~ and so on bull The Cosmos label more olten than not coneeals such classipoundied missions as milita-rymiddot~EiconnaissanceA ~ELINT ~o-lledion aid to navi-

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gation and test of orbital bombardment systems and maneuveringshysatellite systems as vell as payload and propulsionfailures of smiddotpacecraft successfully o-rgtited

The Soviets have nev~r mentioned any specific mis sionmiddots Ior the payshyloads launcheq from Plesets k by the SL-1 In Qontrast they have given cletails bf the missiems andiesults 0f many ef fue payloads launched by the SL-7 frmiddotom Kapustin Yat

Some o( these I said TASS nave tested equlpment

bull GosmiddotmOs 2middot tested an ion-sensor or-ientation system bull Cosmqs 23 tested solar c~lls and stabi-lizing equipment for future meteoro1ogioal satellites bull Cosmos 97 tested lt)peratien middotof a 111as ~r in space bull Cosmos 149middot tested middota new gyrltgt-ae reclyn~mie system middotfar attitude eontrol and other equipment

bull Cosmoses 3 and Hl8 s tudied erosion caused my micrometmiddoteorites bull Cosrpos 8 studied meteor hazards bull cosmiddotmoses 2~ ~nd 49 made geom-agnetic field r-neasurelllents bull Gosrn0s 51 meas~u--red skyult-Daviolet radiati0n ~ Cosmos 108 studieq the relationship betweeit the upper ~tmosphere

and s middotolar activity bull Cosmos l3middotS studied middotthe possipllity of a du-st cloud StJrround~ng the Earth bull middot Cosmos 142 rnea~px~d the inflpenc_e ol Uie io1l0Slphere on ultralopg rad~owaves

bull Cosmoses 16middot6 amiddotnd pound30 rneas]lred ~olar~flare radiation bull middot C~OStl10J 196 ltY~-tr~ed ox~ Uippemiddotr-a~mcrs~ ~e s-tudJ~sbull bull Go~tnoSmiddot 2-1middot5 middotcarri~cl te middotlemiddot sCspe~ fol astfronmiddotomital resmiddotearch and measmiddot

middot uremiddotd solar radiiatiGn middoton radiowlt~Ye fremiddotquenieies middot bull Cos-mos 262 memiddotaS)illed vacuum ultrayiolet and soft X-ray r adiation

Faihue oi the SltDvietamp- to talk ab-out rnissian results could mean mission failure but middotfhat is not the ease here sin_c~ iU tbe Plesetsk SL-7 pay1oa~ls mentioned here have tran-smiited succee~fally

Review The mission of themiddot s-mall non]fecoveJttable payl-oads launched -from Pleset-sk by 1he middotSL- 7 a~ WcentJl a$ of efr 5 predeees s ormiddotsmiddot laund~ecl from Kapustinmiddot yenar is aot knqwn lrttt (Omiddotemiddot v~rlttl featur-es are obvhgtusly pertinent to their mission

bull The r elatively low -peri-gees mtist be impgr-tant1middot since tlre Soviets

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consistently lise them for these payloads despite the fact t hat i t cuts down on orbital litetime bull The high orbitai inclinations -- of about 71 degrees and 82 degrees of the operational coraft launched hom P1esetsk assure global or nearshyglobmiddotaJ coveragmiddote ~ ~these ctaft aimiddote monitorlng terrestrial phenomena bull T-he relatively limited I th~ chem~ca1 batteries and the low payload-failure rate all are more suggestive of a simple but highly re~ liabl~ monitoring system than a highly sophisticated environmental data ~ollector

bull The recent accelerating freque~t~Y of these launch~s indicates that middot the Frogram is of increasing impertance to the Soviets possibly be cause it is increasingly productive For the past 18 rnoJths there hmiddotavc n-ever been fewer than two activ~ members of this sedcs in orbit ) bull Sov-iet silence on the s-pecii~c mission- 9f any of these craft jt) conshytrast to their willingne-ss to discusmiddots the missions and resuJJs o other small nonr-ecove-rable payloads launched by the SL- 11 strongTy suggeampts thatlt their mission iJi classified a~ pqss~bly roilita~y i~re~pective of wheth-er middotthese ctraft Cltre cenductm~ enVirenlTferntal re$earch mortito1middoting erreStrialphenome-n-a_ or testing equipment

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middot(CIA Soviet Pres-s) (SECRET)

Designators of Soviet Spac-e Propulsion Systems Ustad (U)

A list of the Savmiddotiets known and estimate-d s-pace pmiddotropulsion systems showing th-e desi-gnator gjven each by Weste-rn inteiligence) is presented on page 43 as reference nia1erial poundor ~ORAD int~lligenee personnel Drawshyings 0pound known or estirnat~q configurations of each system are shown on page 42 (This list supersecles the lismiddott pub1ished on page l4 WlR ) 68)

A tew oi these sy~tems are no loiiger in use ~he Si ifSL -2gt-SS-amp ICJM b-ocents~er-s4stainer) has aot Jaun~hed a spacecraft since 15 May 1958 the s L-5 since 20 July -1 ~-66 and the SL-10 sin~e ll April 1964

The SL- 9 wh~ch has launchelli only Protlt~ns 1 2 anfd 3 has not- been ~s ed since 6 J14ly 19(~- ltheP-e paylo~~middot~middot ~vesectliigeuropoundte~ ~ )nt~raction bet~e~l+lt middot high-e~ergy cosmic partkle S~ and some middotsefect~d eaiftHl middotatom-k nuclei but the prim-ary m1ssion -qi these launches was -t_o ~est the large 2-middotstage SL- 9

wnich comprises the irst 2 stages otmiddotthe SL-12 No SL-~s have beemiddotn laulchelti since the first SL-lZ was l~~nch~d 0 0 March 19~ 7)

The SL- 3 once uBed intenstveli nGW laul~he$ 9nly Ne~t~O~lOgjcal satellites B~calse its thhmiddotd (iunik s~age _ is ineffl~~nt the SL-3s othe1- tasks hav-e been takemiddotn over lgty the SL-4

All systems in c-urrent ~se consume c-ryogenic propellanu except for

-----~middot-----

~s~e~e~~eertt~~-----middot middot - -~--~------~----------~-----------~llifmiddotthe fJrst stages 0f the SL-7 and and all stpges of the SL-(NORAD) (SECRET)

4 Ground Based Com pt~ter s Hi1c b00 ln Parallel For Space-Mission Supp-ort)81

To support their space rniss1ons the Soviets operate 4 ground- based computers in para-Ueifomiddotr purpose~ cgtf remiddotGilJndaocy a-nd handli~g the large computational load middot aecordi~g to a SoMi et scientist The system is deshysig)ed so that the coq1puter can wo-rk on separate functions 3imultaneously Oritput of the 4-rhachine setup was said to be only Z emiddotr 3 times that of a single machine this is conmiddotsistemiddotnt wJth us experience

The Soviet sc ien~fst could have been referrillg to either 4 s~parate coroshypitter s ope1bullatingmiddot sinlultanmiddoteeusl)lgto r 11 ~ornjpiterS interconnected in parallel ccmftg1natlpPrbull Four computemiddotls t~plf ccgtnn~cted in parailel w-ould be mpre expensive in both ecjuiement -~na p~0grarnimiddotng etgt Sts middottrlian woulcl a single large machine Mmiddotoreover e~panltJing tbe sys~ems qa~abilities and applica-Uons would pr-obably be very difficult lntercoropJtter communications p roblems as well as s9ftwar e problems cmiddotascade with the adcliii~ ampf more computer

us exmiddotperience middotindicates l illOreovcermiddot thalt adding more COnputers tothe syst~Jn desmiddotcri_beJwould not Pr~regce a sifilIi~ant jn6 r ea$ e in tlle sysshytems capaJ~i1ities

The tn~Pdmiddotel of oo~puter involvea was not s peeuroified bui probably dii1lebullrtd little ii at all LrornJfoown Soviet tnQ~els whick tLre not weil suited ior tSe in a ~SygtS teJn that r egttireS severltiil itompiters t(j qoik iri parallel (CIA)

(SE6HEI NFD Releamiddotsablegt to US UK amp Can)

Sovtets May Operate Oxygen-Hydrogen Ro_cket middot Engines at HigherPressures Than US 9o6$_iSY

Tbe Sovlets may be operat-ing 9Xygen-h~d~ogmiddoten rocket engines at comshybustJoltn ~-Chamber- pre$silr es ~I rno~e than -30)0 pountls per sqUare inch psbulliL probably iri an expeldmental or dev~lpplllental progJJim A key sdentist in th~ Soviet-s cosmonaut and robket programs in referring to the US1 s Platt amp Wl1itney 30-G() psi oxygeP-Amiddot middot roamp~ri~ ttQcke~ entine~ sa~d tJa~~t theshyUSSR has higner middotcombu~middot tion pr-~sJ 1ih8ri tHe us He clia not say how

high theSmiddote pressuremiddots bullwcre _ but he middot 1 qltgtrn-jtlentmiddot that the majc-ilnulil thepreti shycal plQss middotu-re for an middotoxygen-hydfGgen e iXgine witlii-tt the riexpound 10 years would be slightly mcgtre th~Jl 5

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Oxy~emiddotn-hydrogen- engines ar~ parHeulinlyweJ4 suiled for use in upper stag~ng of interplanetaty and lunar space(iaaft ~ (PlA) -1

(SECR ST

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