Intersputnik
International satellite communications services organization
title: "Intersputnik" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["communications-satellites", "science-and-technology-in-the-soviet-union", "space-program-of-the-soviet-union", "soviet-and-russian-space-institutions", "aerospace-companies-of-the-soviet-union", "foreign-relations-of-the-soviet-union", "eastern-bloc", "east-germany–soviet-union-relations", "poland–soviet-union-relations", "hungary–soviet-union-relations", "czechoslovakia–soviet-union-relations", "cuba–soviet-union-relations", "romania–soviet-union-relations", "soviet-union–syria-relations", "india–soviet-union-relations", "1971-establishments-in-the-soviet-union", "bulgaria–soviet-union-relations", "communications-in-the-soviet-union", "communications-satellites-of-russia"] description: "International satellite communications services organization" topic_path: "geography/russia" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersputnik" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary International satellite communications services organization ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox organization"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Intersputnik |
| Intersputnik International Organization of Space Communications | |
| image | Interputnik logo.png |
| size | 150px |
| caption | Intersputnik logo |
| formation | |
| status | Active |
| headquarters | Moscow, Russia |
| membership | 25 member states |
| language | Russian |
| leader_title | Director General |
| leader_name | Ksenia Drozdova |
| website | |
| :: |
|name = Intersputnik Intersputnik International Organization of Space Communications |image = Interputnik logo.png |image_border = |size = 150px |caption = Intersputnik logo |map = |msize = |mcaption = |abbreviation = |motto = |formation = |extinction = |type = |status = Active |purpose = |headquarters = Moscow, Russia |coordinates = |owner = |location = |region_served = |membership = 25 member states |language = Russian |leader_title = Director General |leader_name = Ksenia Drozdova |main_organ = |parent_organization = |affiliations = |num_staff = |num_volunteers = |budget = |website = |remarks = The Intersputnik International Organization of Space Communications, commonly known as Intersputnik, is an international satellite communications services organization founded on 15 November 1971, in Moscow by the Soviet Union along with a group of seven formerly socialist states (Poland, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Mongolia) and Cuba.
The objective was and continues to be the development and common use of communications satellites. It was created as the Eastern Bloc's response to the Western Intelsat organization. As of 2024, the organization has 25 member states. Ukraine is in the process of leaving the organization, while Czechia announced its intention to leave in February 2025, and Poland announced on 13 March 2025 that it will leave effective 12 August 2025.
Intersputnik nowadays is a commercially aligned organization. It operates 12 satellites in orbit and 41 transponders. In June 1997 Intersputnik created the Lockheed Martin Intersputnik (LMI) joint venture together with Lockheed Martin, which built and operated the satellites of the same name. In September 2006, Lockheed Martin Intersputnik was acquired by Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS).
History
Initially, the Intersputnik system was created on the basis of the Soviet Orbit-2 satellite broadcasting network and was designed to serve the countries participating in the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon). The main system and technical developments were carried out by NIIR, radio receiving equipment was produced at the Moscow Radio Engineering Plant, antenna-feeder devices at the Podolsk Electromechanical Plant, radio transmitting and channel-forming equipment was manufactured by the Krasnoyarsk TV Plant.
In the initial version, Intersputnik used highly elliptical satellites of the Molniya-3 type, and in 1978 it began using geostationary satellites of the Gorizont type. Receiving complexes "Orbita-2" with transmitters "Gradient-K" and channel-forming equipment RS-1, RS-2 operated at the earth stations. In the process of modernization, the transmitters were replaced by more modern Helikon type with a power of 3 kW and new channel-forming equipment “Gradient-N” began to be used. Subsequently, the Research Institute for Telecommunication (TKI) in Budapest took part in the development of the equipment for Intersputnik, and factories in Hungary and Czechoslovakia were connected to production.
Member states
- Afghanistan
- (until 12 August 2025)
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Intersputnik_member_states_2013.png" caption="date=April 2025}}"] ::
References
References
- "Directorate".
- "ČR odejde z organizace Intersputnik se sídlem v Moskvě {{!}} ČeskéNoviny.cz".
- Vonog A. I. [http://r91353ba.beget.tech/intersputnik.html Intersputnik system]. ''Krasnoyarsk TV plant''. Our story. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
- "Member Countries".
- (2025-03-13). "Oświadczenie rządowe z dnia 13 marca 2025 r. o utracie mocy obowiązującej w stosunku do Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej Porozumienia o zdolności prawnej, przywilejach i immunitetach Międzynarodowej Organizacji Łączności Kosmicznej "Intersputnik", sporządzonego w Berlinie dnia 20 września 1976 r.".
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::