Russia all set to launch 40 satellites in March 2021
10 Feb 2021 17:56:01
Moscow, Feb 10: The Russia space industry has announced that the country is going to launch 40 satellites into orbit from 18 different countries of the world in March 2021. The satellites will be launched using the Soyuz-2 carrier rocket. The industry will be keeping up to its initial announcement of Nov 2020, whereby it was informed that the space industry will blast off the Soyuz-2.1 on Mar 20, 2021.
The Soyuz 2.1 is a carrier rocket with the Fregat booster. It will be blast off with the South Korean Compact Advanced Satellite 500 space vehicle called CAS500-1. Payloads from 18 countries will also be launched into orbit along with Soyuz 2.1 and CAS500-1. However, the list of the satellites is not yet finalized. The Soyuz-2.1 payload will launch satellites from Russia, Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea, UAE, Israel, Thailand, Germany, Brazil, Canada, Italy, Hungary, Argentina, Netherland, Slovakia, Spain, Tunisia and the United Kingdom.
The Soyuz-2 is the advanced version of the Russian Soyuz rocket. The basic version of the rocket is a three-stage launch vehicle that is used to place the payloads into Low Earth Orbit. The first-stage of the rocket boosters and two core stages feature the uprated engines along with the improved injection systems. The rocket system also comprises of the digital flight control and telemetry systems. It allows the rocket launching from a fixed launch platform. The rocket flown with an upper stage, which allows the rocket to lift the payloads into higher orbits. It is usually equipped with the independent flight control and telemetry systems.
The Soyuz is a family of Soviet expendable launch systems. It has been developed by OKB-1 while the Progress Rocket Space Centre has manufactured it in Samara, Russia. The Souyz launched its first satellite in 1966 and has launched over 1,700 flights till date. It is the most frequently used launch vehicle across the world.