Russian Proton rocket launches communications satellite for Angola (video)

October 13, 2022

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Russia launched its second mission in a three-day stretch on Wednesday (Oct. 12), sending a communications satellite aloft for the federal government of Angola.

A Proton rocket topped with the Angosat-2 spacecraft lifted off from the Russian-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Wednesday at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT; 6 p.m. Moscow time).

Angosat-2 is sure for geostationary orbit, about 22,250 miles (35,800 kilometers) above Earth, the place it would present communications providers for the Angolan authorities for at the very least 15 years, if all goes in response to plan.

Associated: The history of rockets

A Russian Proton rocket launches the Angosat-2 communications satellite for the federal government of Angola on Oct. 12, 2022, from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. (Picture credit score: Roscosmos)

Angosat-2 was constructed by the Russian satellite-manufacturing firm ISS Reshetnev, with Airbus offering the communications payload, according to RussianSpaceWeb.com (opens in new tab). The satellite is a substitute for Angosat-1, which failed shortly after launching to Earth orbit in 2017.

Angosat-2 has confronted issues of its personal. For instance, its liftoff was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic and financial sanctions imposed on Russia, which held up the event and supply, respectively, of key satellite elements, RussianSpaceWeb reported. After which got here the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which started on Feb. 24.

Within the wake of the invasion, which is ongoing, “Airbus stopped the supply of 57 waveguides and associated documentation for the deployable antennas working in Ku- and C-band,” RussianSpaceWeb.com’s Anatoly Zak wrote.

“The substitute of the banned {hardware} with indigenously constructed equivalents delayed the launch of Angosat-2 from March to October 2022,” Zak added. “Consequently, the challenge failed to supply a political increase to the incumbent authorities in Angola on the eve of the nation’s normal elections on August 24.”

Angosat-2’s launch is the second half of a launch doubleheader for Russia this week. On Sunday night time (Oct. 9), a Soyuz rocket launched a spacecraft for Russia’s GLONASS satellite-navigation constellation.

The Soyuz lifted off from Plestesk Cosmodrome, in northwestern Russia.

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