Kosmos 818

Kosmos 818 (Russian: Космос 818 meaning Cosmos 818), also known as DS-P1-Yu No.78, was a Soviet satellite which was launched in 1976 as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme. It was a 400-kilogram (880 lb) spacecraft, which was built by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, and was used as a radar calibration target for anti-ballistic missile tests.[1]

Kosmos 818

Mission type	ABM radar target
COSPAR ID	1976-044A
SATCAT no.	08851
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	DS-P1-Yu
Manufacturer	Yuzhnoye
Launch mass	400 kilograms (880 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	18 May 1976, 11:00 (1976-05-18UTC11Z) UTC
Rocket	Kosmos-2I 63SM
Launch site	Plesetsk 133/1
End of mission
Decay date	7 March 1977 (1977-03-08)
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee altitude	267 kilometres (166 mi)
Apogee altitude	468 kilometres (291 mi)
Inclination	71 degrees
Period	91.9 minutes

A Kosmos-2I 63SM carrier rocket was used to launch Kosmos 818 from Site 133/1 of the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.[2] The launch occurred at 11:00 UTC on 18 May 1976, and resulted in the successfully insertion of the satellite into low Earth orbit.[3] Upon reaching orbit, the satellite was assigned its Kosmos designation, and received the International Designator 1976-044A.[4] The North American Aerospace Defense Command assigned it the catalogue number 08851.

Kosmos 818 was the seventy-eighth and penultimate DS-P1-Yu satellite to be launched,[1] and the seventy-first to successfully reach orbit.[5] It was operated in an orbit with a perigee of 267 kilometres (166 mi), an apogee of 468 kilometres (291 mi), 71 degrees of inclination, and an orbital period of 91.9 minutes.[6] It remained in orbit until it decayed and reentered the atmosphere on 7 March 1977.[6]