Still a bad point for the image of the Russian space sector? Launched from Baikonur, contact with the first Angolan satellite has been lost and has not been restored yet.
Tuesday, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Russia launched a Zenit-2SB rocket with payload satellite Angosat-1. A launch that was particularly notable.
It involved a rocket provided by the Ukrainian company Yuzhmash, and thus a rare collaboration between Russia and Ukraine, while Angosat-1 is the first telecommunications satellite for Angola. Operated by Angosat, it was designed by the Russian company RSC Energia.
Following a successful takeoff and separation of the upper tier, the $ 280 million project (satellite cost) and a 15-year mission went awry. Quickly after the first contact, the satellite cut communications with the ground control.
Wednesday, it was announced a loss of telemetry during the deployment of solar panels, and while the satellite was moving to its geostationary orbit. At first, it was expected a recovery of contact in the night from Wednesday to Thursday.#Ангосат: Есть разделение разгонного блока «Фрегат-СБ» и второй ступени ракеты-носителя! Отделение космического аппарата «Ангосат» от «Фрегата» запланировано 27 декабря в 06:54 мск. pic.twitter.com/eAQymaLok5— РОСКОСМОС (@roscosmos) 26 décembre 2017
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According to Sputnik, contact with the satellite could not be restored. Attempts always occur, but "a malfunction of the feeding system could prove fatal." This was one of the assumptions put forward based on preliminary data.
The launch of the Angosat-1 satellite had been postponed several times and it had been in a warehouse for over three years. If it turns out that the first Angolan satellite is lost (it is not yet certain at this stage), it would be a new failure for Russia only one month after the loss of the Meteor-M 2-1 meteorological satellite.
After launching from the new Vostochny cosmodrome in southeastern Siberia, the Meteor-M 2-1 satellite (among others) had been lost due to a programming error and a hidden problem in an algorithm.
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