21 Jan 2020 19:41

AngoSat-2 satellite to be built by late 2021 - Roscosmos

MOSCOW. Jan 21 (Interfax) - The AngoSat-2 satellite, which is being built to replace the lost AngoSat-1, will be ready by the end of 2021, Roscosmos deputy director general Sergei Dubik said.

"According to the latest information provided by Energia Director General [Nikolai] Sevastyanov, the deadline is the end of 2021," Dubik said at a plenary session of the State Duma on Tuesday.

Energia created AngoSat-1 for Angola on the basis of the new service platform comprised of Russian-produced components. The satellite weighed 1,647 tonnes.

AngoSat-1 was put into orbit by a Zenit rocket launched from Baikonur at 10 p.m. Moscow time, on December 26, 2018. Eight minutes into the flight the rocket released the Fregat upper stage, which placed the satellite into the intended orbit at 6:55 a.m. Moscow time, on December 27. Later, it emerged that the satellite had stopped sending telemetry.

Energia admitted loss of contact with the satellite. From the morning of December 27 until the evening of December 28, the company's specialists tried to establish contact with the satellite in orbit.

Energia, which manufactured the satellite, said that it had managed to conduct a communication session with the faulty AngoSat-1 and obtain new telemetric information showing all onboard system parameters as normal.

Energia experts hoped to "revive" the satellite in April 2019, after its approach to the radio visibility zone. Later, they declared it lost.