A Russian Soyuz-2.1b rocket was launched from Website 43/4 on the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on Dec. 1 at 12:10 AM Moscow time (21:10 UTC on Nov. 30). Onboard was seemingly a Lotos-S digital intelligence satellite tv for pc for the Russian navy.
There’s a risk that extra payloads are to be deployed by the first satellite tv for pc later, primarily based on unclear state information experiences. Solely Lotos-S1 No. 6 and its Soyuz higher stage have been initially cataloged in orbit.
The payload was deployed right into a 240 by 900 km orbit, inclined 67.1 levels. It is a constant switch orbit with the opposite Lotos-S1 satellites, which function in an roughly round 900 km orbit.
The Lotos collection type a substitute for Soviet-era Tselina and US-PM surveillance satellites. Because the Nineties, the Liana program, composed of the Lotos and Pion satellites, has aimed to deliver upgraded and more-capable reconnaissance and intelligence satellites into Russia’s arsenal.
Lotos satellites change the Tselina-2 collection of satellites. First launched starting within the Nineteen Eighties and constantly launched for over 20 years, Tselina-2 satellites are tasked with digital alerts intelligence (ELINT). ELINT is a course of involving intercepting radio alerts and relaying collected data for navy evaluation.
Wednesday’s Lotos-S1 No. 6 joins a community of six different Lotos satellites, one among which is a developmental model of the spacecraft launched in 2009 named Lotos-S. The primary launch of an operational model, Lotos-S1, occurred in December 2012, and the remaining two satellites within the collection will likely be operational variants ordered by the Russian Ministry of Defence in September 2017.
Rendering of a Lotos-S1 satellite tv for pc. (Credit score: KB Arsenal)
Lotos spacecraft are baked on the Yantar satellite tv for pc bus, constructed by TsSKB Progress, which offers onboard propulsion and energy. The reconnaissance know-how, which is built-in into the bus, is constructed by the KB Arsenal Design Bureau, the prime contractor for the Liana program.
With the satellite tv for pc now in orbit, it will likely be renamed and numbered into the “Kosmos” nomenclature sometimes used with Russian navy payloads. This latest Lotos-S1 satellite tv for pc is anticipated to be named Kosmos-2565.
Kosmos designations have been in use because the Sixties and customarily serve to offer obscurity to the precise id of payloads. These designations are much like the USA-x designations that categorized satellites launched by america obtain for comparable functions.
The Soyuz-2.1b launcher used on Wednesday is one among three lively variants within the Soyuz household of rockets, and appears essentially the most just like the early Soyuz rockets, utilizing 4 liquid-fueled boosters surrounding a central core. This design can also be used on the Soyuz-2.1a however is just not used on the Soyuz-2.1v, which doesn’t use the 4 facet boosters and as a substitute makes use of solely a single core.
Different variants of the Vostok rocket embody the Molniya variant, including a fourth stage, permitting it to achieve the extremely elliptical orbit of the identical identify.
Soyuz-2.1b lifts off from Website 43/4 at Plesetsk with Lotos-S1 No. 6. (Credit score: Roscosmos)
Lotos-S1 No. 6 lifted off aboard Soyuz-2.1b from Website 43/4 on the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. Plesetsk is one among three Cosmodromes at present utilized by the Russian Navy in addition to Roscosmos, Russia’s state-owned house company. The opposite two Cosmodromes at present in use are Baikonur Cosmodrome, situated within the former Soviet Union-incorporated nation of Kazakhstan, and Vostochny Cosmodrome, situated in Russia’s far east.
Throughout the Sixties, the previous R-7 pads have been repurposed to permit launches of R-7-derived launch automobiles, such because the Vostok rocket in addition to the Soyuz household of launch automobiles. The primary orbital launch from Plesetsk occurred on March 17, 1966, when a Vostok-2 launched Kosmos-112, a first-generation Soviet optical reconnaissance satellite tv for pc to low Earth orbit.
Wednesday’s launch was the second from Website 43 at Plesetsk in underneath three days. On Nov. 28, one other Soyuz-2.1b launched from the neighboring Website 43/3 carrying the final GLONASS-M navigation satellite.
(Lead photograph: Soyuz-2.1b lifts off from Website 43/4 with Lotos-S1 No. 6. Credit score: Roscosmos)
