Issue 142
Russia Launches New Meridian-M Satellite to HEO
3 Apr 2026: Russia launched a Soyuz 2.1a with Fregat-M upperstage with the Meridian 11 satellite (either 68571 or 68572, not certain which yet) from Plesetsk. This is…
20 reports match “HEO / Molniya”. Browse every relevant article across the Integrity Flash archive.
3 Apr 2026: Russia launched a Soyuz 2.1a with Fregat-M upperstage with the Meridian 11 satellite (either 68571 or 68572, not certain which yet) from Plesetsk. This is…
5 Apr 2026: Russian space operators continue to circularize Cosmos 2589's (64467). Recall that Russia launched Cosmos 2589 into an unusual Geosynchronous Highly Elliptical Orbit in Jun 2025.…
5 Jan 2026: Russia appears to be struggling to maintain its 4-satellite missile warning constellation. The Tundra/Kupol constellation was meant to consist of 8-10 satellites (as it had…
16 Jan 2026: As noted in the 7 December 2025 Flash , Cosmos 2589 (64467) began conducting maneuvers to circularize its orbit on 19 Nov 2025 when it…
5 Dec 2025: As predicted in the 23 November 2025 Flash , China has placed its newly launched TJS-21 (66586) into a Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) and synchronized…
21 Nov 2025: China launched a LM-3B with the TJS-21 satellite from the Xichang. According to official sources, the satellite entered the planned orbit successfully and “will be…
23 Feb 2022: Amateur Astronomer Scott Tilley has been tracking and reporting activity involving Russian military communications satellites. - Russia operates a constellation of High Earth Orbit (HEO)…
22 Mar 2022: Russia launched the Meridian-M No 10L satellite onboard a Soyuz 2.1a from the Russian Plesetsk Cosmodrome. This was first space launch for Russia's military since…
15 Apr 2022: China's classified Shiyan (SY)-10 satellite has been tracked operating in a specialized orbit, six months after an anomaly during launch appeared to leave it stranded…
2 Nov 2022: Russia launched a Soyuz-2.1b from Plesetsk Cosmodrome with the 6th satellite of Russia's Tundra/Kupol next-generation early warning system. It was designated Kosmos-2563 after reaching orbit.…
18 Dec: China placed its TJS-13 (62188), launched on 3 Dec 2024, into a Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) with an apogee of 38,675.8km, a perigee of 1,687.8km and…
Friend of the Flash, Jack Anthony, wrote about the Molniya orbit in a couple of his “Jack's Astro Corner” articles. For those who might need a refresher I…
26 Jan 2023: After disappearing from observations between 29 Dec 2022 and 25 Jan 2023, China's Shiyan 10-02 is now cataloged in a Molniya orbit. The satellite likely…
29 Dec 2022: China launched its second Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) satellite, the Shiyan-10(02) using a LM-3B from Xichang. Like its older sibling, Shiyan-10(01), SY-10(02) is likely to…
Jack's Astro Corner: Argument of Perigee – Let’s get close with our orbit (Part V) Over the summer, Jack Anthony will break down each of the six orbital…
Jack's Astro Corner: Inclination - The Tilted Element (Part III) Over the summer, Jack Anthony will break down each of the six orbital elements required to uniquely identify…
Jack's Astro Corner explains orbital eccentricity, ellipse geometry, perigee/apogee calculations, Molniya HEOs, Kepler's Second Law and the Tundra orbit.
Russia launched a classified payload believed to be the fifth EKS/Tundra missile-warning satellite into a Molniya orbit on 25 November 2021.
19 October 2021: Nearly three weeks after suffering an anomaly during launch that appeared to result in the loss of the spacecraft, Shiyan-10 now appears to be active…
From the February 2021 Space Review - In May 2020, Russia launched the fourth of its new-generation missile early warning satellites called Tundra. Flying in highly elliptical orbits…