1987-011A
The US-M Plazma-A No. 1 flight tested a SPT Hall thruster and the Topol' reactor. It used a US-A bus with experimental equipment instead of the radar. The reactor provided 5 kW of power. According to the NASA orbital debris office, the spacecraft was 9.3m long (of which 4.6m was the reactor section) with an additional 7.2m boom for a total span of 16.5m. One small debris object was left in low orbit and decayed rapidly. Two larger objects separated after launch in the high orbit, one of which is listed by Space-Track as the 11K69 second stage; this is unlikely as the 11K69 probably does not have the performance to reach such a high orbit.
The most likely mission profile is a launch into a low 100 x 400-450 km parking orbit and use of the US-A liquid propulsion system to raise the orbit to around 450 x 800 km, followed by a second burn to circularize. An Arsenal newsletter article reported that the spacecraft was inserted to a 300 km elliptical orbit, and then two burns of the on board 94E DU propulsion system raised the orbit to 900 km circular. A thermal shield was ejected after orbit insertion. The project was designated E3. The 94E DU had an extra external spherical tank.
| Plazma-A No. 1 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 Feb 1 | 2330 | Launch by Tsiklon-2 | KB |
| 2332 | Stage 1 sep | ||
| 2338 | Stage 2 (11D) sep | 120? x 450? | |
| 1987 Feb 2 | 0020? | AKM-1 | 450? x 800? |
| 0110? | AKM-2 | 787 x 799 | |
| 1987 Feb 5 | 113 x 423 x 65.0 | ||
| 1987 Feb 20 | 787 x 799 x 65.0 | ||
| 1987 Mar 17 | 788 x 801 x 65.0 | ||
| 1987 Jun 24 | Reactor deactivated | ||
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