SpaceX Rocket to Launch Ukrainian Satellite Sich-2-30 into Orbit
The satellite is designed to capture digital photos of the Earth's surface.
The launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled for January 13 at 17:30 Kyiv time. The rocket will carry the Ukrainian optical satellite Sich-2-30. The launch broadcast will begin at 17:15 on the SpaceX YouTube channel.
The launch is expected to take place from the United States Space Force base at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The separation of the satellite from the rocket and its entry into orbit are expected to occur at 18:50 Kyiv time.
Head of the State Space Agency Vladimir Taftai said the satellite's service life is three years. Sich-2-30 is designed to capture digital photos of the Earth's surface in the visible and near-infrared ranges: 0.51-0.59 μm (green), 0.61-0.68 (red), 0.80-0.89 (near-IR) and 0.51-0.90 (panchromatic).
The satellite is also used to monitor the ionosphere. The State Space Agency previously reported that the satellite is a modification of Sich-2, launched in 2011. Its total mass is 210 kg, of which 40 kg is payload.
The resolution is about 6.1 m with a swath width of about 36.5 km. The data storage capacity is 10 GB. Development of the satellite began in 2017 at the Yuzhnoye State Design Office named after M. K. Yangel.
The bureau designed, tested and prepared the satellite for launch. Chief designer and head of the spacecraft design bureau at the Yuzhnoye State Design Office Kostiantyn Bilousov said that although Sich-2-30 is a direct successor to Sich-2, there are differences between them.
Kostiantyn Bilousov
chief designerIt is a direct successor, a modernized version of Sich-2. However, low-quality components were replaced with high-quality ones, and the software was refined. We believe Sich-2-30 will have a longer service life. It will be launched by a different rocket into a lower orbit (a SpaceX rocket into an orbit at an altitude of 525 km), which will improve image quality.
Initially, the satellite Sich-2-1 was a modified version of Sich-2, but it was later renamed Sich-2-30, because President Volodymyr Zelensky instructed that it be launched in the year marking the 30th anniversary of Ukraine's independence.
The satellite's tasks include monitoring land use, vegetation, forest and water resources, assisting in eliminating the consequences of natural disasters, and digitalizing the economy.
The first images from the satellite are expected to be sent within a few hours after launch.
BBC Ukraine reports that Ukraine last sent its satellite (Sich-2) into orbit in August 2011 using the Dnipro-1 launch vehicle, which was then produced at Yuzhmash with the involvement of Russian companies.
"The launch took place at a base in Orenburg Region of Russia. By December 2012, communication with the satellite had already been lost. It later turned out that the problem was caused by a power element of Russian production. Thus, Sich-2 worked just over a year of the five that the developers had expected," the publication reports.
Elon Musk's SpaceX postponed the launch of the Ukrainian satellite, planned for December, to January. The total cost of the launch will amount to $1.99 million for the State Space Agency of Ukraine.
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