Russia on Thursday successfully placed into orbit a military satellite
believed to be part of the Kremlin's early warning anti-missile system.
A Soyuz rocket carrying a classified payload blasted off from the Plesetsk
cosmodrome in northern Russia in the early hours of Thursday morning, the
defence ministry said.
At 0109 GMT a rocket was launched that put a "space apparatus into orbit in
the interests of the defence ministry", the ministry said in a statement
carried by the Interfax news agency.
It did not provide further details.
According to the Spaceflightnow website, which covers space launches, the
launch could be delivering a Tundra satellite.
Russia has previously launched Tundra satellites in 2015, 2017 and 2019,
according to Interfax.
Specialist website Russian Space Web said the ground track of Thursday's
launch "matched previous missions" delivering satellites for Russia's
missile warning system named Kupol or dome.
Unveiled in 2019, Kupol is designed to detect launches of ballistic missiles
and track them to their landing site, though its exact configuration is
unknown.
In 2018, the US, which suspects Russia of seeking to develop space weapons,
said it was alarmed at the "very abnormal behaviour" of a Russian satellite.
Moscow dismissed what it called "unfounded allegations".
Last week, Russia faced an international backlash after its military
destroyed a satellite creating a cloud of space debris that forced the crew
on the International Space Station to take shelter.
Source: Link
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Space & Astrophysics
The West continues to suffer with COVID which is of Chinese origin. China must be laughing at us as we struggle to get to terms with this situation China meanwhile powers ahead whilst Russia is increasing its military satellites.
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