Molniya (satellite)
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- This article is about a satellite system. For the Soviet design bureaus, please see NPO Molniya.
Molniya ("lightning") was a military communications satellite system used by the Soviet Union. The satellites used highly eccentric elliptical orbits of +63.4 degrees inclination and orbital period of about 12 hours (called Molniya orbits), which allowed them to be visible to polar regions for long periods. The use of this kind of orbit was necessitated by the fact that sites near the poles are not able to communicate with satellites in geosynchronous orbits. The program has been authorized by the government decree in late 1960. After some initial failures in 1964 the first operational satellite Molniya 1-01 was launched on August 23, 1965. Since October of 1967 Molniya satellites were used by the Russians for their national Orbita TV network of broadcasting and delivering of TV signal.
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