Program: Gonets

Means Courier

Russian LEO telecommunication system, designed from the reconvertion of military technology. The system should be composed of 36 satellites on 6 orbital planes. The project was launched in 1992. The satellites are probably less than 300 kg.

The system should use the GPS and GLONASS positioning systems for geolocation services. Gonets operates in the 259.5-265.2 MHz range VHF/UHF band and the 1.5/1.6 GHz band. Uplinks will be from 312-315 MHz and 1624.5-1643.4 MHz, and downlinks from 387-390 MHz and 1541.0-1541.9 MHz.

The system is derived from the Strela-3 military series. The Gonets-D crafts were most probably test satellites.

Satellites are built by NPO PM.

The next generation constellation is being planned in 2020, should comprise 28 satellites

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External resources

http://www.gonets.ru/english.php

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