# Cosmos 546
**Wikidata**: [Q12907741](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12907741)  
**Source**: https://4ort.xyz/entity/cosmos-546

## Summary
Cosmos 546 (also spelled Kosmos 546) is a Soviet spacecraft, launched on 26 January 1973 from Kapustin Yar, that rode into orbit on a Kosmos-3M rocket and is built on the Zaliv-GVM satellite bus. It carries the international designator 1973-005A and the NORAD catalog number 06350.

## Key Facts
- Launch date: 26 January 1973 at 11:44:45 UTC
- Launch site: Kapustin Yar, Soviet Union
- Launch vehicle: Kosmos-3M (Russian rocket)
- Satellite bus: Zaliv-GVM class
- COSPAR ID: 1973-005A
- NORAD catalog (SCN): 06350
- Alternative names: Kosmos 546
- Wikipedia sitelinks: 4 (Hungarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian, Serbian)

## FAQs
### Q: What rocket launched Cosmos 546?
A: A Kosmos-3M rocket lifted Cosmos 546 from Kapustin Yar at 11:44 UTC on 26 January 1973.

### Q: What kind of satellite is Cosmos 546?
A: It is a Zaliv-GVM-class spacecraft, indicating its satellite-bus lineage within the Soviet Kosmos series.

### Q: Where was Cosmos 546 launched?
A: The mission lifted off from the Kapustin Yar test range in the former Soviet Union.

## Why It Matters
Cosmos 546 is one of more than 2,500 satellites in the long-running Soviet/Russian Kosmos series, a catch-all designation covering military, scientific, and engineering test payloads. While open sources do not specify its payload, the use of the Zaliv-GVM bus and launch from Kapustin Yar—often used for experimental or reconnaissance craft—suggests a technology-demonstration or defense-support role. The flight adds another data point to the Kosmos-3M launch record, a workhorse rocket that flew hundreds of missions between 1967 and 2010. For historians and orbital-mechanics researchers, Cosmos 546 helps fill gaps in early-1970s Soviet space activity, illustrating the USSR’s routine cadence of small satellite deployments during the Cold War.

## Notable For
- One of the early flights in 1973, a record year for Kosmos-3M with more than 20 launches
- Uses the less-common Zaliv-GVM satellite bus, distinguishing it from the standard “Meteor” or “Strela” buses in the same series
- Launched from Kapustin Yar rather than the more frequently used Plesetsk or Baikonur sites
- Carries the sequential NORAD catalog number 06350, useful for cross-referencing orbital-element datasets

## Body
### Launch Event
On 26 January 1973 at 11:44:45 UTC, a Kosmos-3M two-stage liquid-fuel rocket lifted off from Site 86/1 at Kapustin Yar and injected its payload into low-Earth orbit. Western radar quickly cataloged the new object as 1973-005A, assigning it the Satellite Catalog Number 06350.

### Spacecraft Details
Cosmos 546 is an instance of the Zaliv-GVM satellite bus, a modular platform employed for a subset of Soviet military and experimental missions. Public technical specifications for Zaliv-GVM are scarce, but the architecture typically supports payloads of several hundred kilograms and provides three-axis stabilization, onboard power, and telemetry systems.

### Mission Context
The flight occurred during a period when the USSR averaged one Kosmos launch every two weeks. While the exact mission remains classified under the generic Kosmos umbrella, the choice of Kapustin Yar and the Zaliv-GVM bus implies a technology test or optical-calibration mission rather than a communications or navigation satellite.

## References

1. Jonathan's Space Report