Several Satellites to Be Launched From Plesetsk in 2007

PLESETSK, Russia. July 14 (Interfax) – Russia will launch several Russian and foreign satellites from its Plesetsk cosmodrome in 2007, the Space Forces commander announced on Saturday.

“In 2004, we started in-flight tests for the modernized Soyuz 1 carrier rocket. Two launches have already been carried out. One more Soyuz 2 rocket will be launched this year,” Col. Gen. Vladimir Popovkin told reporters in Plesetsk, Arkhangelsk region.

Furthermore, a Rokot light carrier rocket, based on Russia’s RS- 18 (SS-19) Stilet ballistic rocket, is to launch a military satellite, and it depends on the results of this mission whether the Space Forces will make regular use of Rokot, he said.

“It’s easier for us to set a price on a rocket” that is manufactured on a regular basis, the general said. “I think it will be between 30% and 35% cheaper,” he said.

Also, a Tsiklon rocket will carry a European satellite called Ocean into space.

Popovkin said the Space Forces did not plan to modernize the Kosmos 3M rocket because “we are not planning any modernization for rockets using dirty’ fuel components.”

“If [Russian state weapons trading enterprise] Rosoboronexport finds any payload that it would make sense to launch by using the infrastructure of Plesetsk, the cosmodrome is ready for it,” he said.

This month, the Space Forces launched the second satellite of the five-satellite SAR-Lupe series, a set of German military reconnaissance satellites.

(c) 2007 Daily News Bulletin; Moscow – English. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.