The satellite GEO-IK-2 failed to come into the right orbit and can not be used for the designated purpose, military sources told newspaper Kommersant. The satellite was launched by a Rokot rocket carrier from the Plesetsk space centre in Arkhangelsk Oblast on 1 February.
The Russian Space Forces were first unable to get contact with the satellite, but on 2 February caught the signals from the device. However, it soon turned out that the satellite was not in the right orbit and that it will be impossible to use it for its original purpose.
Fuel is insufficient for getting the satellite safely back to the right orbit, and the space experts now consider whether it will be possible to use the device for alternative purposes as long as there is fuel on board.
Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and President Dmitry Medvedev have met to discuss the incident and a special investigative commission has been set up, Newsru.com reports. The failed launch is a major setback from the Russian Defence Ministry which intended to revive national geodetic space studies after a 25 year break, Kommersant reports.
Another two planned launches from Plesetsk – both in late March – might now be postponed. One of the planned launches will be made with a Rokot carrier rocket, the other with a Proton-M rocket.
Plesetsk is located about 140 km south of Arkhangelsk City near the town of Mirny. It is the most important space launch site locaten on Russian territory. In the period 1959-1992, more than 1300 rocket launched were conducted from the centre. Although the number of launches was dramatically reduced after 2002, the space centre remains of key strategic importance for the space forces.
