Altair (satellite)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the communications spacecraft. For the Lunar lander, see Altair (spacecraft)
Altair, also referred to as LUCH, is a series of 5 Geosynchronous Russian relay satellites. They have been used to relay live TV images and other communications from the Russian space station Mir and other orbital spacecraft to the Earth. They have a mass of 2.4 metric tons each.
The ROS (Russian Orbital Segment for the ISS) communication subsystems can receive commands directly from ground stations through the Regul Subsystem and can receive commands from the LUCH satellite through the Lira or the Regul System. The LUCH satellite coverage for the ISS is approximately 45 minutes per orbit.
