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Launch of Russia's Remote Earth-Sensing Satellite Postponed Till 26 August

Posted on: Wednesday, 3 August 2005, 15:00 CDT

Text of report by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS

Moscow, 3 August: The launch of Russia's latest remote Earth- sensing satellite Monitor-E from the Plesetsk spaceport has been postponed until 26 August, an ITAR-TASS correspondent has been told at the northern spaceport.

The launch of the converted Rokot booster rocket with the Monitor- E satellite was initially scheduled for 18 August.

"During a check of the satellite's onboard equipment a fault in the operation of the navigation system was detected," a source told the agency. "A reserve set of equipment was delivered to the spaceport. It has been mounted on board the satellite. A new cycle of checks is due to start today."

Monitor-E is Russia's first small-size space satellite designed for remote sensing of the Earth. As regards its specifications, the satellite is not inferior to heavy satellites of the same type. The satellite was designed using unsealed modular components. It has a mass of 750 kg. The satellite is equipped with two photo cameras with a resolution of 8 m and 20 m respectively. Almost all systems of the satellite were recently designed by Russian enterprises.

Source: BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union

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