The development of the endless expanses of the Universe has always been considered prestigious for the leading countries of the world. In the struggle for laurels in space exploration, the United States, the European Union, China and Russia are competing.
Russia plans to carry out about ten launches of space rockets in the first quarter of 2011, the rocket and space industry told Interfax. "Five launches are planned to be carried out from the Baikonur cosmodrome, leased by Russia from Kazakhstan, four launches from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region and one launch from the positional area of the Dombarovskaya missile division of the Strategic Missile Forces in the Orenburg region," the source said.
According to him, two space launches will be carried out from Baikonur in January. "On January 20, the Zenit-2SB launch vehicle with a new Fregat-SB upper stage is to launch the newest geostationary hydrometeorological spacecraft Electro-L into orbit, and on January 28, the Soyuz-U launch vehicle will launch to the International Space station cargo ship "Progress M-09M", - added a representative of the industry.
He said that in early February the Rokot conversion booster with the Briz-KM upper stage would launch a new Geo-IK-2 geodetic satellite from Plesetsk. "On February 15 from the northern cosmodrome, it is planned to launch a Soyuz-2-1B carrier rocket with a Fregat upper stage and a new generation Glonass-K navigation spacecraft. In addition, tentatively, in mid-February, the Dnepr conversion rocket "It starts from the Orenburg region with seven satellites, the main of which is the Ukrainian Sich-2," the source said. According to him, four to five launches will be carried out in March, three of them from Baikonur and one or two from Plesetsk. "On March 19, the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle with the Fregat upper stage will launch five satellites from Baikonur, including the Russian satellite Kanopus-V and the Belarusian spacecraft," the agency quoted him as saying.
According to the source, on March 30, the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle will send the Soyuz TMA-21 manned spacecraft with three cosmonauts to the ISS, and the next day the Proton-M launch vehicle with the Briz-M upper stage will launch the American telecommunications satellite SES-3 and the Kazakh communications apparatus "Kazsat-2". "At the end of March from Plesetsk, it is planned to launch the Rokot launch vehicle with the Briz-KM upper stage and three satellites, two of which are Messengers-M messengers. In addition, earlier Roscosmos announced an urgent launch of the Glonass satellite for March. -M, "but not the fact that it will take place this month," said an industry representative.
Recall that on December 5, during the launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome, three satellites of the Russian orbital navigation system "Glonass" were lost. The damage, according to various estimates, could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars. The reason for the loss was an error when filling the upper stage of the Proton rocket - the norm was exceeded by 1.5-2 tons. As the interdepartmental commission for the investigation of the accident found out, the wrong formula was written in the technical documentation for refueling.
