Russia has dramatically increased its space constellation of satellites, having recently carried out several space launches. Four spacecraft launched into orbit at the same time.
Booster “Soyuz-2.1b” with upper stage “Frigate” launched from the cosmodrome “Oriental” at 22.57 MSK 22 October. The launch took place in the normal mode and after the allotted time, the upper stage with four satellites entered the reference orbit. Further “Frigate” began launching vehicles into calculated orbits, making short-term engine starts, the last apparatus separated from the block through 4 hours 8 minutes.
Thus, three satellites were launched into orbit “The messenger-M” and one “Skiff-D” for grouping “sphere”. As explained in Roskosmos, apparatus “The messenger-M” should be part of the global low-orbit satellite system, which is designed to provide communication and data transmission anywhere in the world, including remote and hard-to-reach areas, including the territory of the Far North. In total, the orbit should be launched 12 satellites from the spaceport “Oriental”. Previously, they were launched only from the spaceport “Plesetsk”.
“Skiff-D” designed to develop technical solutions for high-speed Internet access. grouping “sphere” should include more 160 spacecraft of various types.
To the grouping “sphere” will include five satellite constellations ("Yamal", "Express-RV", "Express", Skif and Marathon) and five satellite constellations for Earth remote sensing ("Berkut-X", "Berkut-O", "Berkut-VD", "Berkut-S" and "Smotr")- Roscosmos announced.
As previously stated by the head of Roscosmos Yuri Borisov, it is necessary to switch to the mass production of space satellites, rather than collecting one a year.
