At 06:48 UTC on Nov. 2, Russia’s Soyuz-2.1b launched from Website 43/4 at Plesetsk Cosmodrome, carrying the sixth satellite tv for pc of Russia’s next-generation early warning system. Upon reaching orbit, the spacecraft was designated as Kosmos-2563.
The Tundra sequence of satellites, also referred to as Kupol or Edinaya Kosmicheskaya Sistema (EKS) satellites, is the following technology of Russian early warning satellites, designed to exchange the US-Okay and US-KMO early warning satellites of the Oko-1 system.
The EKS Kupol satellites are a part of a growing program of early warning satellites, designed to determine any attainable ballistic missile launches and complement early warning radars such because the Voronezh. This early warning community provides advance discover of a possible nuclear assault and would offer data to the protection techniques defending Moscow, in addition to another Russian missile protection and counterattack assets.
Growth of the EKS satellites began in 2000, however the Russian Ministry of Protection didn’t award a contract for this system till 2007, with RKK Energiya set to design the satellite tv for pc bus and a primary launch deliberate for 2009. A number of issues, altering necessities, and a court docket case led to lengthy delays, ultimately suspending the primary launch to the tip of 2014, and the launch would find yourself occurring on Nov. 11, 2015.
The Soyuz-2.1b is certainly one of 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 a single core.
The Soyuz launcher was first launched in 1966, derived from the Vostok rocket, which itself was primarily based on the R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile. Whereas the primary 4 take a look at launches resulted in failure, the rocket did ultimately efficiently attain orbit.
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 engine ignition at Website 43/4 for the GLONASS-Okay-17 mission in October 2022. (Credit score: Roscosmos)
Wednesday’s launch additionally made use of the Fregat higher stage. Plans to revamp the Soyuz rocket with this new stage had been launched within the Nineteen Nineties, primarily based on the propulsion module of the Phobos interplanetary probes. Regardless of being endorsed by Roscosmos, the Russian state area company, and the Russian Ministry of Protection, a scarcity of funds prevented the plans from being applied.
The eventual founding of Starsem, an organization advertising Soyuz launches internationally, allowed for the creation of a much less bold rocket, the Soyuz-U/Fregat, also referred to as Soyuz-Fregat. The Soyuz-U/Fregat consisted of a Fregat higher stage getting used on the already current Soyuz-U launcher, permitting the rocket to hold 1,350 kg to a geostationary switch orbit (GTO).
Regardless of earlier troubles, the Soyuz launcher was ultimately phased out and changed by a brand new household of rockets, the Soyuz-2. Utilizing a brand new digital steerage system, and a modified third stage, now powered by a brand new engine, the rocket may now elevate as much as 3,250 kg to the identical GTO. The Soyuz-U and Soyuz-FG rockets flew till 2017 and 2019 respectively, with the ultimate flight of Soyuz-FG carrying people to the ISS on the Soyuz MS-15 mission.
Wednesday’s mission lifted off from Website 43/4 on the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. Plesetsk is certainly one of three cosmodromes at present utilized by the Russian navy in addition to Roscosmos, Russia’s state-owned area 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.
In the course of the Nineteen Sixties, the previous R-7 pads had been repurposed to permit launches of R-7-derived launch autos, together with the primary Soyuz launcher. The primary orbital launch from Plesetsk occurred on March 17, 1966, when an R-7-derived Vostok-2 launched Kosmos-112, a first-generation Soviet optical reconnaissance satellite tv for pc to low Earth orbit (LEO).
(Lead picture: Soyuz-2.1b lifts off from Plesetsk carrying Tundra No. 6. Credit score: Roscosmos)
