Soyuz-2.1b/Fregat - Khayyam - Baikonur - 9 August 2022 (05:52 UTC)

[Blackstar]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/iran-russia-satellite/2021/06/10/d28978f0-c9ab-11eb-81b1-34796c7393af_story.html

Russia is preparing to supply Iran with an advanced satellite system that will boost Tehran’s ability to surveil military targets, officials say
By Joby Warrick
June 10, 2021 at 6:53 p.m. EDT

Russia is preparing to supply Iran with an advanced satellite system that will give Tehran an unprecedented ability to track potential military targets across the Middle East and beyond, according to current and former U.S. and Middle Eastern officials briefed on details of the arrangement.

The plan would deliver to the Iranians a Russian-made Kanopus-V satellite equipped with a high-resolution camera that would greatly enhance Iran’s spying capabilities, allowing continuous monitoring of facilities ranging from Persian Gulf oil refineries and Israeli military bases to Iraqi barracks that house U.S. troops, the officials said. The launch could happen within months, they said.

While the Kanopus-V is marketed for civilian use, Iranian military officials have been heavily involved in the acquisition, and leaders of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have made multiple trips to Russia since 2018 to help negotiate the terms of the agreement, the officials said. As recently as this spring, Russian experts traveled to Iran to help train ground crews that would operate the satellite from a newly built facility near the northern city of Karaj, the officials said.

Details of the agreement were described by a current and a former U.S. official as well as a senior Middle Eastern government official briefed on the sale. The three officials spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing sensitivities surrounding ongoing intelligence collection efforts. The Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow did not respond to an email request for comment.

[B. Hendrickx]

The Russian-Iranian satellite project was publicly announced in August 2015, when an Iranian company signed a preliminary agreement with VNIIEM (the manufacturer of the satellite platform) and Barl (the company that provides the optical payload). The satellite would be based on VNIIEM's Kanopus platform and ride as a co-passenger on a Soyuz rocket.  It was occasionally mentioned in the Russian press until about mid-2017, after which it went off the radar, probably because it became too politically sensitive. In May 2018 the Barl company was placed on the US sanctions list, presumably because of the Iranian satellite deal.

Earlier this year, it turned out that a VNIIEM project described in some documents in 2018-2019 only as "Project 505" was in fact the Russian-Iranian project. This could be determined from two presentations given before Russia's upper house of parliament last February which discussed plans for what was called Russia's "first commercial remote sensing satellite for a foreign partner". The partner was not identified, but it could easily be deduced from the information given there that it is Iran. The satellite could be seen in two slides shown during those presentations. It weighs 650 kg and will be launched into a 490x525 km Sun-synchronous orbit. It has a maximum resolution of 0.75 m. The satellite was reportedly scheduled for launch this summer, but that remains to be seen.

[zubenelgenubi: See this post from February 2021 in the Plan of Russian space launches (part 2) thread.]

[B. Hendrickx]

More on the Russian satellite for Iran in this week's edition of The Space Review:

https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4199/1

Analysis of recent Russian sources corroborates the Washington Post story that the satellite may be only months away from launch. It also suggests the satellite uses another platform than Kanopus-V and may be more capable than earlier believed when applying Western standards for determining its ground resolution.

[B. Hendrickx]

According to a source on the Russian skyscrapercity.com forum, the launch of the Project 505 satellite (the Russian-built remote sensing satellite for Iran) along with a secondary payload is scheduled for August 9 from Baikonur.

https://www.skyscrapercity.com/threads/Космические-технологии.B8.1045319/page-1167
(post 23,330 on May 19)

Actually, it looks like at least two secondary payloads will be carried:

- ReshUCube-1: a cubesat built by the Siberian State University of Science and Technology Named After M.F. Reshetnev
https://tass.ru/kosmos/14772653
https://vpk.name/en/576138_in-siberia-students-and-students-will-explore-the-earths-magnetic-field-using-a-nanosatellite.html

-a so far unnamed cubesat built by Belgorod State University (NIU BelGU) (to be used for biological experiments)
https://bsuedu.ru/bsu/news/news.php?ID=759372&IBLOCK_ID=176

The source does not mention the launch vehicle, but this most likely will be the Soyuz-2-1a/Fregat. According to information provided last year, the satellite for Iran weighs 650 kg and will be placed into a 490x525 km Sun-synchronous orbit (see attachment 1). Some have linked the payload for Iran to a satellite named Alpha-ES, which is seen on the website of NPK Barl, a company that provides ground infrastructure for the project (see attachment 2). However, Alpha-ES has a different design and weighs only 300 kg. The satellite for Iran may be similar in design to VNIIEM's Razbeg reconnaissance satellites. More in the article that I wrote for "The Space Review" last year (see the link in the previous post).

I presume that some of the secondary payloads for the suspended launch of Korea's CAS500-2 satellite could be moved to this launch. CAS500-2 was supposed to have been placed into an orbit very similar to that of the satellite for Iran.

[zubenelgenubi]

The first of the two launches should be Project 505.

The next Soyuz launches from Baikonur will take place in August and September.

RCC "Progress": the next launches of rockets "Soyuz" from Baikonur will be held in August and September.

14:54 07.06.2022

MOSCOW, June 7 - RIA Novosti. The next launches of Soyuz rockets from the Baikonur Cosmodrome will take place in August and September this year, RIA Novosti was told in the press service of the Progress Rocket and Space Center (RKC), where these rockets are manufactured.

"Further launches of the Soyuz-2 launch vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome are scheduled for August and September 2022," the press service said.

What spacecraft will be launched into orbit is not specified.

Earlier, the head of Roskosmos , Dmitry Rogozin , said that the rocket and space industry had set the goal of multiplying the Russian orbital constellation.

Later, he also noted that until the end of 2022, the Baikonur Cosmodrome expects "active work", and in general, the second half of the year will be "intensive" here.

https://ria.ru/20220607/soyuz-1793749262.html

[Rondaz]

This August, 16 #CubeSats of 3U form factor will be launched as rideshare on the #Soyuz-2 rocket. 🚀 They will be separated from Aerospace Capital deployers as part of the “SPACE-π” project by the “FASIE”.

https://twitter.com/aerospacecap/status/1546518246081323012

[Vahe231991]

Is it possible that an unlicensed copy of the Project 505 satellite could be built by Iran's aerospace industry vis-a-vis Iran's reverse-engineering of components for the Projects 505 in order to provide the Islamic Revolutionary Guards with greater abilities to spy on Israel and US bases on the Arabian Peninsula in order to provide Iran's space sector with propaganda value?

[Steven Pietrobon]

Is it possible that an unlicensed copy of the Project 505 satellite could be built by Iran's aerospace industry vis-a-vis Iran's reverse-engineering of components for the Projects 505 in order to provide the Islamic Revolutionary Guards with greater abilities to spy on Israel and US bases on the Arabian Peninsula in order to provide Iran's space sector with propaganda value?

Theoretically it should be possible, in practice probably not! They would somehow need to get a copy of the satellite or its plans and then duplicate all the special Russian made parts. Iran would probably be better off designing their own satellite from scratch.

[Salo]

ps://www.inform.kz/ru/baykonur-posle-dvuhmesyachnogo-pereryva-vozvraschaetsya-k-puskovym-rabotam_a3960214
Google translate:

Baikonur after a two-month break returns to launch work
     28 July 2022 14:00
     BAIKONUR. KAZINFORM The next launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome is scheduled for August 9, 2022, after a two-month break, Kazinform correspondent reports.
     According to the schedule approved with the Kazakh side, on August 9, 2022, the Soyuz 2.1a rocket will be launched from the No. 31st site of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which will put a constellation of satellites into orbit.
     The start is scheduled for 11 hours 52 minutes Nur-Sultan time.

Or 05:52 UTC.

[russianhalo117]

This August, 16 #CubeSats of 3U form factor will be launched as rideshare on the #Soyuz-2 rocket.  They will be separated from Aerospace Capital deployers as part of the “SPACE-π” project by the “FASIE”.

https://twitter.com/aerospacecap/status/1546518246081323012

Per a private message on NSF I'm told apparently there are only twelve SPACE-π oboard with the remaining four Aerospace Capital slots carrying what are expected to be SNIPE sats.

[Fmedici]

Info about some of the payloads:

https://twitter.com/aerospacecap/status/1546910951605211139

https://twitter.com/aerospacecap/status/1548989907380609024

https://twitter.com/aerospacecap/status/1549672592453296128

https://twitter.com/aerospacecap/status/1550448362930970626

https://twitter.com/aerospacecap/status/1551479834051764225

https://twitter.com/aerospacecap/status/1552224078496497664

https://twitter.com/aerospacecap/status/1552614106640707589

[Skyrocket]

This August, 16 #CubeSats of 3U form factor will be launched as rideshare on the #Soyuz-2 rocket.  They will be separated from Aerospace Capital deployers as part of the “SPACE-π” project by the “FASIE”.

https://twitter.com/aerospacecap/status/1546518246081323012

Per a private message on NSF I'm told apparently there are only twelve SPACE-π oboard with the remaining four Aerospace Capital slots carrying what are expected to be SNIPE sats.

IMHO it is unlikely that the 4 SNIPE satellites are on board as they are South Korean.

[Fmedici]

Some more cubesats:

https://twitter.com/aerospacecap/status/1553061167882313728

https://twitter.com/aerospacecap/status/1553296741360885762

[zubenelgenubi]

Cross-post; no SNIPE satellites:

August 9th rideshare SPACE-π manifest:
https://vk.com/public204822807?w=wall-204822807_245

  "KAI-1" (ANO DPO "KIRO")
  Geoscan-Edelweiss (Geoscan)
  Skoltech B1 and Skoltech B2 (Skoltech)
  "Polytech Universe-1" and "Polytech Universe-2" (SPbPU)
  CubeSX-HSE-2 (NRU HSE)
  SXC3-214 MIET-AIS (MIET)
  Monitor-1 (SINP MSU)
  SXC3-215 Vizard ("NIS")
  UTMN (Tyumen State University)
  SXC3-217 Siren (NRU BelSU)
  SXC3-218 KuzSTU (KuzGTU)
  SXC3-219 ISOI (ISOI RAS)
  SXC3-2110 Voenmeh ("VOENMEH")
  ReshUCube (SibGU named after M.F. Reshetnev)

[russianhalo117]

Cross-post; no SNIPE satellites:

August 9th rideshare SPACE-π manifest:
https://vk.com/public204822807?w=wall-204822807_245

  "KAI-1" (ANO DPO "KIRO")
  Geoscan-Edelweiss (Geoscan)
  Skoltech B1 and Skoltech B2 (Skoltech)
  "Polytech Universe-1" and "Polytech Universe-2" (SPbPU)
  CubeSX-HSE-2 (NRU HSE)
  SXC3-214 MIET-AIS (MIET)
  Monitor-1 (SINP MSU)
  SXC3-215 Vizard ("NIS")
  UTMN (Tyumen State University)
  SXC3-217 Siren (NRU BelSU)
  SXC3-218 KuzSTU (KuzGTU)
  SXC3-219 ISOI (ISOI RAS)
  SXC3-2110 Voenmeh ("VOENMEH")
  ReshUCube (SibGU named after M.F. Reshetnev)

That is only the manifest for SPACE-π project only which is for Russian academic institutions only. Other payloads are expected.

[Fmedici]

All but one of the payloads listed so far by Aerospace Capital are also in Space-Pi's list, the one missing being CYCLOPS of the Baltic State Technical University

EDIT: "Voenmeh" is an abbreviation for that university so that's the payload. On the other hand, the only unidentified payload from the Space-Pi list that has no correspondence with those of Aerospace Capital is ISOI (if we don't count Monitor-1, which was previously scheduled to be launched with the next Meteor-M satellite). Maybe more updates will follow in the next days.

August 9th rideshare SPACE-π manifest:
https://vk.com/public204822807?w=wall-204822807_245

  "KAI-1" (ANO DPO "KIRO")
  Geoscan-Edelweiss (Geoscan)
  Skoltech B1 and Skoltech B2 (Skoltech)
  "Polytech Universe-1" and "Polytech Universe-2" (SPbPU)
  CubeSX-HSE-2 (NRU HSE)
  SXC3-214 MIET-AIS (MIET)
  Monitor-1 (SINP MSU)
  SXC3-215 Vizard ("NIS")
  UTMN (Tyumen State University)
  SXC3-217 Siren (NRU BelSU)
  SXC3-218 KuzSTU (KuzGTU)
  SXC3-219 ISOI (ISOI RAS)
  SXC3-2110 Voenmeh ("VOENMEH")
  ReshUCube (SibGU named after M.F. Reshetnev)

[Rondaz]

Russian Soyuz to launch satellite for Iran on August 9.

Russian Soyuz will launch remote sensing satellite Khayyam for Iran on August 9.

12:35 08/03/2022 (updated: 12:48 08/03/2022)

MOSCOW, August 3 - RIA Novosti. On August 9, the Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome will launch the Khayyam Earth remote sensing satellite, created by Russian enterprises on order from Iran, into orbit, the Roscosmos press service told reporters.

"On August 9, 2022, it is planned to launch the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome with the Fregat upper stage, which will launch the Khayyam Earth remote sensing spacecraft into orbit on the order of the Islamic Republic of Iran," the report says. message.

"Khayyam" was developed and manufactured at enterprises that are part of the Roscosmos perimeter , the state corporation specified.

It is noted that in addition to the Iranian satellite, 16 small devices created by leading Russian universities, commercial companies and non-profit organizations will be launched into orbit as a passing load. They are designed for scientific and technological research, including the development of inter-satellite communication technologies, measuring the level of electromagnetic radiation, remote sensing of the Earth and monitoring the environmental situation.

https://ria.ru/20220803/sputnik-1806894237.html

[Alter Sachse]

They write Soyuz 1.b/Fregat !

[Fmedici]

Two more cubesats announced by Aerospace Capital, wich in principle brings the total to 17 in contradiction with what stated in the article posted before. But the KODIZ cubesat is manufactured by the Moscow State University as Monitor-1, so I think it's safe to assume that they're the same spacecraft or that Monitor-1 is still scheduled to be launched with the next Meteor-M and the list published by Space-Pi in VK has some nomenclature issues.

https://twitter.com/aerospacecap/status/1554741963374690304

https://twitter.com/aerospacecap/status/1554786267862278144

[Rondaz]

Russia to launch Iran’s Khayyam satellite, 16 Russian small satellites on August 9.

Russian spacecraft were designed for scientific and technological research, Roscosmos said.

3 AUG, 04:41

MOSCOW, August 3. /TASS/. Russia will launch Iran’s Khayyam satellite aboard its Soyuz-2.1b rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on August 9, Roscosmos told reporters on Wednesday.

"We plan to launch a Soyuz-2.1b rocket, equipped with a Fregat upper stage, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on August 9, 2022; it will take the Khayyam remote earth probing spacecraft into the orbit under an order of the Islamic Republic of Iran," the company said, adding that the spacecraft was designed and produced by Roscosmos enterprises.

The rocket will also carry 16 smaller spacecraft, designed in various colleges, commercial companies and non-profit organizations.

"We also plan to deliver accompanying Russian small satellites: CubeSX-HSE-2, Monitor-1, UTMN, CYCLOPS, Siren, KAI-1, Kuzbass-300, Skoltech-B1, Skoltech-B2, Polytech Universe-1, Polytech Universe-2, Vizard, Geoscan-Edelweis, MIET-AIS, ISOI and ReshUCube," the company said.

"Russian spacecraft are designed for scientific and technological research, including development of inter-satellite communications channels, measurement of electromagnetic radiation, remote earth probing and monitoring of ecological situation," Roscosmos added.

Earlier, a source in space industry told TASS that the next Soyuz launch is planned for early August.

https://tass.com/science/1488729