Dnepr Launches Six Satellites

A Dnepr successfully launched six satellites from a launch silo at Baikonur Cosmodrome at 17:00 UTC on December 20. Two of the satellites, Argentinian LatinSat A and B, were the first in a planned 14 satellite constellation of store and forward telecommunication satellites. Another satellite, Rubin 2, was also a telecommunication relay satellite. One satellite, SaudiSat 1S, was a science satellite for Saudi Arabia, and UniSat 2 was an Italian science satellite. A mockup of a commercially planned spacecraft, Trailblazer, was also launched. The satellites were placed into a 640 – 698 km orbit, with an inclination of 65 degrees.

The 12 kg (25 lbm) LatSat spacecraft were built by a Fairfax, VA company, SpaceQuest, Ltd. subsidiary, Aprize Satellite. The initial Aprize system will include six communication satellites in low-Earth orbits circling the earth 14 times daily, receiving data signals from all the active user equipment, and polling those from which data is specifically requested. After the data relay market is sufficiently developed, up to 42 more satellites will be deployed into similar orbits. These additional satellites will increase the data relay capacity, system redundancy and global coverage. Aprize's satellites are miniature spacecraft that are carefully designed and optimized for data relay with very low power consumption. Each satellite contains ten radio receivers, two power-agile transmitters and up to twelve megabytes of solid-state data storage. The radios used for communications operate in the UHF frequency band authorized by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for Non-Voice, Non-Geostationery Mobile Satellite Services (NVNG MSS). Each satellite can collect data from more than 100,000 worldwide User Terminals daily. Satellite Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are currently operational in Fairfax, Virginia. Another NOC will be installed in Bermuda. Each AprizeSat costs approximately US $1 million to manufacture and deploy.

The 15 kg (33 lbm) SaudiSat 1S (also known as SaudiSat 2) was built for Riyadh Space Research Institute. The satellite will be used to provide two-way transmission of data between portable stationary and mobile subscriber stations.

The 14 kg (31 lbm) Rubin 2 was built by OHB Systems, Bremen. Rubin 2 will perform six experiments to advance knowledge on interruption-free satellite tracking. Rubin 2 is a successor to BIRD Rubin, which OHB-SYSTEM launched in July 2000.

The 10 kg (22 lbm) UniSat 2 was designed by students of the University of Rome Astro-dynamics department. The satellite will be used by the university's aerospace engineering department as part of its educational program.

A 14 kg (31 lbm) model of the Trail Blazer satellite was build and designed under a contract with Russia, to be used to practice ways to place bulky cargo into orbit. The model is a prototype of the spacecraft to be launched to the moon.

The satellites were launched by Kosmotras, a joint venture between Russia and Ukraine. The Dnepr is a commercial derivative of decommissioned RS-20 missiles.

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