Orbit Inclination: 64.8 deg
Period: 676 min
Perigee: 19400 km
Apogee: 19400 km
Orbit Type: HEO > Highly Elliptical Orbit

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Etalon are a Russian family (Etalon-1, Etalon-2) of passive geodetic satellites dedicated to satellite laser ranging. Etalon-1 was the first geodynamic satellite launched by the former Soviet Union. ... The Etalon spacecraft were launched in 1989 in conjunction with a pair of GLObal'naya NAvigatisionnay Sputnikovaya Sistema (GLONASS) satellites. The mission objectives were to determine a high accuracy terrestrial reference frame and earth rotation parameters, to improve the gravity field, and to improve the gravitational constant.

[Summary provided by NASA.]

http://ilrs.gsfc.nasa.gov/satellite_missions/list_of_satellites/eta1_general.html