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Roskosmos launches Kondor-FKA2 radar imager
A Soyuz-2 rocket lifted off from Vostochny Cosmodrome on Nov. 30, 2023, carrying the Kondor FKA No. 2 radar satellite. It was the fifth mission to orbit an all-weather, day-and-night imaging spacecraft from the Kondor family, counting one previous FKA variant, one classified military version, known as Neitron, and two original Kondors.
Kondor-FKA No. 2 mission at a glance:
Kondor launch campaign As of March 2023, the launch of the second Kondor-FKA satellite was expected on June 8, 2024, but by June 2024, it slipped to November 30. The satellite was delivered to Vostochny on Sept. 14, 2024. According to Roskosmos, the satellite was shipped by air and then by road to the launch site, where it was unloaded at the thermal chamber of the storage facility (INSIDER CONTENT), a part of the processing complex in Vostochny. In the next step, the spacecraft was transferred to the spacecraft processing facility, MIK KA, for pre-launch operations. The fueling of the Fregat upper stage for the mission was completed on Oct. 25, 2024, and on October 28, the irreversible operations with Kondor-FKA2 commenced with the transfer of the satellite to the fueling facility. The loading of propellant aboard the satellite was completed by Nov. 12, 2024, and specialists then began preparing the spacecraft for integration with the Fregat upper stage. The assembly of the payload section for the mission was completed by Nov. 22, 2024, with the rolling of the payload fairing onto the stack of the spacecraft and the upper stage. The payload section was then transported to the vehicle assembly building, MIK RN, where it was integrated with the third stage of the Soyuz rocket and with the rest of the launch vehicle on Nov. 26, 2024, completing the assembly. On the same day, the State Commission overseeing the launch campaign cleared the vehicle for the rollout to the launch pad which took place on the morning of November 27 in a midst of a severe snowfall.
Kondor launch profile A Soyuz-2-1a/Fregat rocket carrying the Kondor-FKA No. 2 radar satellite lifted off from Pad 1S in Vostochny on Nov. 30, 2024, at 00:50:25.130 Moscow Time (4:50 p.m. EST on November 29). The four boosters of the first stage separated 1 minute and 59 seconds into the flight (L+118.94 seconds), followed by the drop of the payload fairing 3 minutes and 44 seconds after liftoff (L+224.44 seconds). The second stage of the rocket operated until 4 minutes and 48 seconds into the flight and separated at L+287.86 seconds. Moments earlier, the RD-0110 engine of the third stage ignited and fired through the lattice structure of the second stage moments before its separation. Once the second stage was dropped, the aft section of the third stage split into three segments and separated at L+293.45 seconds after liftoff. The main engine of the third stage was cut off at L+527.54 seconds in flight. Typically for launches to a near-polar orbit, the third stage of the Soyuz-2-1a rocket accelerated the Fregat upper stage and its payload to a near-orbital velocity and left it on a sub-orbital trajectory 8 minutes 51 seconds after liftoff, when separating at L+530.84 seconds. Space tug maneuvers
The Fregat upper stage with the Kondor-FKA2 satellite moments after the separation from the third stage of the Soyuz launch vehicle as seen by an onboard camera. The Fregat was expected to fire its propulsion system for 9 minutes and 51 seconds to enter an elliptical (egg-shaped) orbit with an apogee (highest point) near the target altitude. The stack of the satellite and the upper stage was then to coast passively until reaching the apogee, where Fregat was programmed to re-start its engine 57 minutes and 42 seconds after launch. The maneuver was to form the target orbit for the deployment of the satellite which was scheduled to take place 1 hour 4 minutes and 51 seconds into the flight. Following the payload release, the upper stage was programmed to perform additional maneuvers to enter a disposal trajectory. Shortly after planned separation of the Kondor-FKA2, Roskosmos reported the successful delivery of the spacecraft into its target orbit. According to Roskosmos, Kondor-FKA2 was intended to trail the first Kondor by around 36 minutes in its orbital path and have its orbital plane shifted by a few degrees relative to the one of its predecessor, in order for the pair to operate as an imaging interferometer capable of producing stereoscopic radar imagery. There was also an announcement from the Roselektronika holdings, a subsudiary of the Rostekh State Corporation, about the successful activation of the radar aboard Kondor-FKA2. The radar was developed at Vega company, which is a part of Roselektronika. On Nov. 30, 2024, the US Space Force cataloged the satellite in a 508 by 512-kilometer orbit with an inclination 97.4 degrees toward the Equator.
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