Russian Military Satellites: Development and Launches

Lotos-S1 satellite launched yesterday

https://tass.com/science/1252001

Launch of Lotos-S1/Cosmos-2549 electronic reconnaissance satellite



On 2 February 2021 at 23:45 MSK (20:45 UTC) the Space Forces conducted a successful launch of a Soyuz-2.1b space launcher from the launch pad No. 4 of the launch complex No. 43 of the Plesetsk test site. The launcher delivered into orbit a satellite designated Cosmos-2549.

Cosmos-2549, which received international designation 2021-008A and registered by NORAD as object 47546, is believed to be a Lotos-S1 electronic reconnaissance satellite of the Liana system.

Previous Lotos-S1 satellite, Cosmos-2528, was launched in October 2018.

http://russianforces.org/blog/2021/02/launch_of_lotos-s1cosmos-2549.shtml

Russian satellite "Inspector" again maneuvers near American vehicles

https://en.topwar.ru/186465-pressa-rossijskij-sputnik-inspektor-opjat-manevriruet-vblizi-amerikanskih-apparatov.html

Rocket "Soyuz-2.1v" put into orbit apparatus of the Ministry of Defense

MOSCOW, September 9. / TASS /. The Soyuz-2.1v launch vehicle, launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, successfully launched the spacecraft of the Russian Ministry of Defense into orbit, the information and mass communications department of the military department told reporters.

"Launched today, September 9, at 22.59 Moscow time from the state test cosmodrome of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (Plesetsk cosmodrome) in the Arkhangelsk region, the Soyuz-2.1v light-class launch vehicle at the appointed time successfully launched a spacecraft into the calculated orbit in the interests of the Russian Ministry of Defense."

source

The new bird is denoted as Cosmos-2551 and is believed to be a Razbeg recon statellite.

The Razbeg n°1 satellite is a small-sized military optical reconnaissance satellite. The payload was built by the Russian corporation NPP VNIIEM. Onboard the satellite is a camera which was built OAO Peleng, a company from Belarus. This camera has a maximum ground resolution of 0.9 meters while operating in the panchromatic mode.

source

"The spacecraft launched in the interests of the Russian Ministry of Defense on September 9 from the Plesetsk cosmodrome was launched into the target orbit at the estimated time and accepted for control of ground assets of the G.S. Titov Main Testing Space Center of the Aerospace Forces," the Defense Ministry said.
"A stable telemetric connection has been established and maintained with the spacecraft, its onboard systems are operating normally," they added.

source

Launch video available

link

so a new type of recon satellite

Was this a military satellite that crashed? For it to crash in the US could it be sabotage or stealing of it for intelligence?

bandit6 wrote:Was this a military satellite that crashed? For it to crash in the US could it be sabotage or stealing of it for intelligence?

Yes this was the satellite that crashed

Two objects A & B were orbited on this mission and its not certain that the object A that re-entered was the satellite itself, or the spent Volga upper stage? Its a military mission, and they aren't going to say squat.

Orbital parameters from 19/10:

2021-081A
169 x 179 km incl. 96.33 deg

2021-081B
272 x 286 km incl. 96.35 deg

All we can do is watch and see what the object B does when its orbit decays and gets closer to re-entry.

More info from B. Hendrickx at source

Kosmos-2525, the first EMKA satellite, didn't make its first maneuvers until about 2 months into the mission when it had descended to about 270 km.

If object B is indeed the satellite we might see some movement in the next week or so?

It was Cosmos-2551 burned in the atmosphere on October 20.  a big loss for the already dramatic state of Russian satellite observation systems. Russia has only 3 optical reconnaissance satellites...

I love how despite all the fuckups they still behave and plan launches and budgets as if everything will be running smoothly

Not a single effort put into redundancy

Is it so hard to order extra satellite to have as backup in case something like this happens?

They will just build another one. We do not know if they do not already have one ready or have one being made currently to place into orbit.

This stuff is insured anyway and they will just continue.

They already don't have a lot of money thrown at them but you think they should double the price of every satellite and system by making twice as many as they need.... but would that be good enough?

What if two accidents happen?

So three or five of everything... starting to get expensive...

Or just use insurance to replace what was lost.

Ironically some of the systems they are launching now have been waiting for a while so having them fail and building new replacements is probably replacing a lot of old compromised imported foreign components with new Russian made bits and pieces...

Most of their satellites made over longer periods have generational changes... look at the GLONASS satellites... they are just getting better and better...

Not saying they should be slack with older items being launched, but certainly not the end of the world either.

Russian military satellite that worked with inspector spacecraft burns in atmosphere.
The Kosmos-2519 satellite was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on June 23, 2017.

https://tass.com/science/1380133

Might anyone know if Russia currently has any hunter killer satellites in orbit? I heard that in the cold war they had a one that could shoot a metal ball at an enemy satellite

Such satellites are not based in space but launched when need arises.

bandit6 wrote:Might anyone know if Russia currently has any hunter killer satellites in orbit? I heard that in the cold war they had a one that could shoot a metal ball at an enemy satellite

introduce ypurself pls here:

https://www.russiadefence.net/f6-member-introductions-and-rules

bandit6 wrote:Might anyone know if Russia currently has any hunter killer satellites in orbit? I heard that in the cold war they had a one that could shoot a metal ball at an enemy satellite

Not currently plus Outer Space Treaty is still on

But considering how fast treaties are going out the window these days anything might happen soon

Fregat booster delivers Russian military satellite to orbit

it is the first Neitron (14F01) satellite

https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/neitron.htm

Imaging of orbital satellites...

George1 wrote:Fregat booster delivers Russian military satellite to orbit

it is the first Neitron (14F01) satellite  

https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/neitron.htm

Launch is successful, payload delivered to correct orbit  source

Fregat u/s now deorbited  source

1st launch of 2022

Scorpius wrote:MOSCOW, April 29. /tass/. The Angara-1.2 light rocket launched for the first time with a spacecraft in the interests of the Russian Defense Ministry on Friday from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region, the ministry told reporters....

Spacecraft in question (Kosmos-2555 military satellite) burned away in atmosphere after malfunctioning

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/4527612.html

Either have more of them in storage for quick replacement or do something about quality control

Does Russia have a back up plan if their military satellites are jammed or shot down? I just saw this article and would like to know if Russia has these alternatives:

Here is a quote from the article:

"Draper has worked for decades on alternative technologies to GPS but the Pentagon only in recent years has expressed interest in exploring them amid warnings that military satellites are being targeted by enemies. In a recent interview with SpaceNews, Gabriel — a former deputy director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency — cautioned that there will never be a single “silver bullet” that can replace a system as capable at GPS, but if U.S. satellite signals ever were disrupted, the military needs back-up options.

“I think you’re going to see many approaches,” he said. “There will not be a single substitute. There will be a need for multiple solutions all operating at the same time.”

Gabriel has offered the military a Draper-developed celestial navigation technology also known as a star tracker. “We’re excited about this system that is designed to be in GPS denied environments,” he said. Dubbed “celestial object sighting system,” it measures the position of satellites relative to stars. “Angular measurements can turn into GPS level accuracy,” Gabriel said. “We have so much junk in orbit that we have to track anyway. We can turn junk into a feature. We can do GPS level mapping using only stars and satellites.”

Draper has made non-GPS navigation and timing a central part of its business. In addition to celestial tracking technologies, it has developed inertial navigation systems, precision time transfer using optics and chip-scale atomic clocks, and vision-based navigation that relies on cell phone cameras and signal processing algorithms."





https://spacenews.com/no-gps-no-problem-there-are-increasingly-more-options/

https://www.oxts.com/what-is-an-inertial-navigation-system/

andalusia wrote:Does Russia have a back up plan if their military satellites are jammed or shot down? I just saw this article and would like to know if Russia has these alternatives:

Here is a quote from the article:

"Draper has worked for decades on alternative technologies to GPS but the Pentagon only in recent years has expressed interest in exploring them amid warnings that military satellites are being targeted by enemies. In a recent interview with SpaceNews, Gabriel — a former deputy director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency — cautioned that there will never be a single “silver bullet” that can replace a system as capable at GPS, but if U.S. satellite signals ever were disrupted, the military needs back-up options.

“I think you’re going to see many approaches,” he said. “There will not be a single substitute. There will be a need for multiple solutions all operating at the same time.”

Gabriel has offered the military a Draper-developed celestial navigation technology also known as a star tracker. “We’re excited about this system that is designed to be in GPS denied environments,” he said. Dubbed “celestial object sighting system,” it measures the position of satellites relative to stars. “Angular measurements can turn into GPS level accuracy,” Gabriel said. “We have so much junk in orbit that we have to track anyway. We can turn junk into a feature. We can do GPS level mapping using only stars and satellites.”

Draper has made non-GPS navigation and timing a central part of its business. In addition to celestial tracking technologies, it has developed inertial navigation systems, precision time transfer using optics and chip-scale atomic clocks, and vision-based navigation that relies on cell phone cameras and signal processing algorithms."





https://spacenews.com/no-gps-no-problem-there-are-increasingly-more-options/

https://www.oxts.com/what-is-an-inertial-navigation-system/

Glonass system use both satellites and terrestrial antenas

PapaDragon wrote:

Scorpius wrote:MOSCOW, April 29. /tass/. The Angara-1.2 light rocket launched for the first time with a spacecraft in the interests of the Russian Defense Ministry on Friday from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region, the ministry told reporters....

Spacecraft in question (Kosmos-2555 military satellite) burned away in atmosphere after malfunctioning

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/4527612.html

Either have more of them in storage for quick replacement or do something about quality control

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=54797.msg2369946#msg2369946

For what it's worth: an anonymous poster on the NK forum is now claiming that both Kosmos-2551 and 2555 were used as targets to test the Peresvet mobile laser system. He doesn't reveal his source of information for that, saying only he knows this "for sure". It's hard to say how reliable this information is. It is interesting though that the re-entry of Kosmos-2555 coincided with a statement by Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov that Peresvet is intended to blind enemy reconnaissance satellites flying over Russian territory (see yesterday's posts in the Peresvet thread).

The same poster also said Kosmos-2555 is called EMKA, but that it is not nr. 3. This would indicate that Kosmos-2551 and 2555 are both considered "experimental small satellites" (which is what EMKA stands for), but are of a different type than the first EMKA, launched as Kosmos-2525 in 2018. Kosmos-2525 was also placed into a low orbit, but unlike Kosmos-2551 and 2555 performed regular maneuvers to maintain the proper altitude and was most likely on a photographic reconnaissance mission.

In other words, EMKA could be a generic name that refers not to one particular type of satellite, but to several types of experimental satellites, possibly built by one and the same manufacturer (VNIIEM). As could be determined from a court document, the "specific" name of Kosmos-2525 was Razdan-N (not to be confused with the big Razdan photoreconnaissance satellites of RKTs Progress).

The picture now emerging is that Kosmos-2551 and 2555 may not have been failures after all and were actually intended to stay in orbit for only several weeks. The chances that the two satellites suffered exactly the same type of failure must be considered relatively small.

Russian military satellite launched from Plesetsk spaceport delivered into orbit

MOSCOW, May 19. /TASS/. A military satellite launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia’s north has been successfully delivered into orbit, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Thursday.

"A satellite launched in the interests of the Defense Ministry of Russia by a combat team of the Aerospace Forces’ Space Troops from the Defense Ministry’s State Testing Cosmodrome today, on May 19, was delivered into the target orbit at the designated time and placed under control of the ground facilities of the Main Testing Space Center of the Aerospace Forces’ Space Troops," the ministry said in a statement.

"After its delivery into orbit, the satellite was designated as the Kosmos-2556," it said.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported earlier on Thursday that a combat team of the Russian Aerospace Forces’ Space Troops successfully launched a Soyuz-2.1a medium carrier rocket with a military satellite at 11:03 Moscow time on May 19. The pre-launch operations and the rocket’s launch proceeded in normal mode, it specified.

source

7/7 successful flights so far for 2022.

Funny how a "gas station masquerading as a country" with an economy "smaller than Italy" can have an independent space program (including manned operations) that launches more payload than ESA...