Ekran
- For the Soviet animation studio see page Studio Ekran
Ekran (Russian: "Экран", meaning "Screen") was a Soviet-Russian type of geostationary satellite, developed for a national system of Direct-To-Home television. The first satellite of Ekran series was launched on 26 October 1976. Each satellite in the Ekran series was designed to provide one TV and two radio program channels to cable TV systems throughout the USSR and to individual home receivers in northern Siberia. Ekran's downlink is in the Ultra high frequency (UHF) range.
Early Ekran satellites used orbital positions in the range from 48° East to 95° East, but recent Ekran, including the current Ekran 20, have been stationed at 99° East. These
On 23 June 1978, the Ekran-2 spacecraft exploded due to a catastrophic discharge of its battery, contributing to the increase in space debris in the Geostationary orbit. On 1 February 2009, the last satellite from the Ekran series, Ekran-M at 99° East, stopped transmitting.