Kosmos 524

Kosmos 524 (Космос 524 meaning Cosmos 524), known before launch as DS-P1-Yu No.49, was a Soviet satellite which was launched in 1972 as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme. It was a 325 kg spacecraft, which was built by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, and was used as a radar calibration target for anti-ballistic missile tests.

Kosmos 524 was successfully launched into low Earth orbit at 13:19:58 UTC on 11 October 1972. The launch took place from Site 133/1 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, and used a Kosmos-2I 63SM carrier rocket. Upon reaching orbit, the satellite was assigned its Kosmos designation, and received the International Designator 1972-080A. The North American Aerospace Defense Command assigned it the catalogue number 06229.

Kosmos 524 was the fifty-eighth of seventy nine DS-P1-Yu satellites to be launched, and the fifty-second of seventy two to successfully reach orbit. It was operated in an orbit with a perigee of 259 km, an apogee of 476 km, 70.9 degrees of inclination, and an orbital period of 91.9 minutes. It remained in orbit until it decayed and reentered the atmosphere on 25 March 1973.