Putin launched new spy satellite system into space – What is the Sfera program

A new telecommunications system is being set up in Space by Vladimir Putinactivating the Sfera program, which he had talked about in June 2018.

A rocket was launched on Saturday Soyuz-2.1b carrying three Gonets-M satellites and a Skif-D module, from the Vostochny cosmodrome, the TASS correspondent reported.

After four hours, the satellites entered orbit.

Liftoff of a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome hauling four satellites into two high-inclination orbits. The mission is expected to last about four hours from launch through final payload separation. https://t.co/x2jZDQHAQk pic.twitter.com/CQeahPklHd

— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) October 22, 2022

It is the first rocket launch from the Vostochny in 2022. The satellites Gonets-M are used for the first time. Skif-D is also the first module to be launched into space on its chassis Sfera program.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about the Sfera program during the annual session on June 7, 2018. The program envisages the launch of communications and Earth remote sensing satellites. Its former CEO RoscosmosDmitry Rogozin, said at the time that the Sfera program would include five satellite constellations providing telecommunications services and another five designed for monitoring.

Gonets is its only low-orbit satellite communications system of Russia which is designed for the global exchange of various types of information with mobile and fixed installations and for the organization of relay channels for various purposes.

The Gonets fleet is effective in the far northern regions of Russia far from conventional satellite communications systems. Messages relayed by the Gonets network are transmitted from the ground to an overhead satellite and then stored in the craft’s memory until it flies over the recipient of the message.

The payloads launched on Saturday have been designated Gonets-M satellites No. 33, No. 34 and No. 35. The Gonets system was built by a public-private partnership between Roscosmos – the Russian space agency – and Russian industry.

Gonets means “messenger” in Russian.

According to ISS Reshetnev, the manufacturer of the satellites Gonetsthe network is used to track cargo and vehicles, monitor industrial activity, provide communications in remote areas, support emergency responders, and assist other global corporate and government data transmission networks.

Saturday’s launch marked the first time a Soyuz rocket has been powered entirely by naphthyl, a hydrocarbon similar to the kerosene fuel previously fed into Soyuz engines. Russia’s space agency says naphthyl fuel is an environmentally safe type of hydrocarbon fuel. Naphthyl fuel also slightly improves the performance of the Soyuz rocket engine, allowing it to carry a heavier payload into orbit.

“The quality indicators, physical and chemical properties and operational characteristics of naphthyl hydrocarbon fuel are close to those of kerosene,” said the Progress Rocket Space Center in Samara, Russiathe maker of Russia’s Soyuz family of rockets.

The change in fuel type did not require significant changes to the Soyuz engines, as there are only minor differences in thermal properties, viscosity and surface tension between kerosene and naphthyl. Naphthyl has fewer aromatic compounds than kerosene, according to the Soyuz rocket contractor.

The change required ground testing of the Soyuz engines to ensure they would handle the new type of fuel. Naphthyl fuel was previously only run on the third stage of the Soyuz, but Saturday’s launch marked the first time that the first and second stage engines also burned the new fuel.

Saturday’s mission was the 15th flight of a Russian Soyuz rocket this year and the 1,968th launch of a rocket in the Soyuz family since the 1950s.

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