SpaceX rocket to launch a Ukrainian satellite into orbit today
On Thursday, January 13, at 5:30 pm Kyiv time, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to be launched; the rocket will be a carrier for the Ukrainian optical satellite Sich-2-30.
The launch broadcast is scheduled for 17:15 Kyiv time, the launch will be broadcast on the SpaceX YouTube channel.
The launch is scheduled to take place from the US Space Force base at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
It is expected that the separation of the satellite from the rocket and launch into orbit will take place at 18:50 Kyiv time.
As the head of the State Space Agency, Volodymyr Taftai, said in an interview with the EP, the service life of the satellite was three years.
Sich-2-30 satellite is designed to obtain digital photos of the Earth's surface in the visible and near-infrared range: 0.51-0.59 μm (green), 0.61-0.68 (red), 0.80-0.89 (near IR) and 0.51-0.90 (panchrome).
In addition, the satellite is used to monitor the ionosphere.
The State Space Agency previously said that its satellite was a modification of Sich-2, launched in 2011. Its total weight is about 210 kg, of which 40 kg is the payload.
At the same time, the resolution is approximately 6.1 m with a width of approximately 36.5 km. Data storage is 10 GB.
The State Space Committee reported earlier that the development of the Sich-2-30 satellite began in 2017 at the Yanhel Pivdenne Design Bureau.
At the bureau, it was designed, tested, and prepared for launch.
Kostiantyn Bilousov, chief designer and head of the space design bureau at the Pivdenne Design Bureau, told BBC News Ukraine that although Sich-2-30 was a direct successor to Sich-2, there were differences.
"This is a direct successor, an upgraded version of Sich-2. But low-quality components have been replaced by high-quality ones, and software has been improved.
We believe that Sich-2-30 will have a longer period of existence. It will be launched by another rocket into lower orbit (SpaceX rocket into orbit at an altitude of 525 km), which will add quality to the image," said the designer.
Originally a Sich-2-1 satellite was a modified version of Sich-2, launched in 2011. Then it was renamed Sich-2-30, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy instructed to launch it in the year of celebrating the 30th anniversary of independence.
Among the tasks of the satellite are monitoring the use of land, vegetation, forest and water resources, assistance in disaster relief and digitalization of the economy, adds BBC News Ukraine.
The first images of Sich-2-30 should be sent a few hours after launch.
BBC News Ukraine also notes that the last satellite, Sich-2, was launched into orbit in August 2011 by Ukraine with the help of the Dnipro-1 launch vehicle, which was then manufactured at Pivdenmash with the involvement of Russian companies.
"The launch took place at the base in the Orenburg region of Russia. In December 2012, communication with the satellite was lost. Later it became clear that the problem arose due to a Russian-made battery. Thus, Sich-2 worked for just over a year, out of five which the developers were expecting," the newspaper writes.
