Mission type Technology COSPAR ID 1964-028A Launch mass 325 kilograms (717 lb) Launch date 6 June 1964 Decay date 20 October 1964 | Operator VNIIEM Spacecraft type DS-MT Rocket Kosmos-2I 63S1 Manufacturer Yuzhnoye Design Office | |
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Kosmos 31 (Russian: Космос 31 meaning Cosmos 31), also known as DS-MT No.2 was a technology demonstration satellite which was launched by the Soviet Union in 1964 as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme. Its primary mission was to demonstrate an electric gyrodyne orientation system. It also carried a scientific research package as a secondary payload, which was used to study cosmic rays.
It was launched aboard a Kosmos-2I 63S1 rocket from pad 2 of the Mayak Launch Complex at Kapustin Yar. The launch occurred at 06:00 UTC on 6 June 1964.
Kosmos 31 was placed into a low Earth orbit with a perigee of 221 kilometres (137 mi), an apogee of 485 kilometres (301 mi), 48.9 degrees of inclination, and an orbital period of 91.7 minutes. It decayed from orbit on 20 October 1964. Kosmos 31 was the second of three DS-MT satellites to be launched. The first was lost in a launch failure in June 1963, and the third was Kosmos 51, which was launched in December 1964.