The Russian Soyuz-ST-A launch vehicle with the United Arab Emirates' Falcon Eye 2 satellite was successfully launched on Wednesday from the Kourou Cosmodrome in French Guiana. The live broadcast is carried out on the Arianespace Corporation website.
According to Arianespace's description, the satellite is designed to observe the Earth's surface for the UAE Armed Forces, as well as for commercial purposes.
The Fregat upper stage with Falcon Eye 2 satellite was separated from the Russian Soyuz-ST-A launch vehicle in the estimated time. According to the telemetry data indicated in the broadcast, the separation took place about nine minutes after the launch.
Roscosmos General Director Dmitry Rogozin said that the Russian Soyuz-ST launch vehicle had departed on schedule. "The missile in Guiana has worked its way back to normal. The Fregat upper stage is now operational," Rogozin wrote on Twitter. "Congratulations on the successful completion of our combat mission," he added.
The nominal duration of the mission was about an hour. The satellite was injected into heliocentric orbit with an altitude of 611 km.
As specified in Arianespace, Falcon Eye 2 was created jointly by Airbus Defence and Thales Alenia Space. It will be part of a system controlled by UAE operators and will have two functions - to support missions of the Armed Forces of the country, as well as to carry out Earth surface surveys for commercial projects.
The Soyuz-ST-A launch vehicle is designed and manufactured at RSC Progress as part of the Soyuz program at the Guiana Space Center.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Arianespace
Based on materials from TASS