Russia not planning further launches under Dnepr program - RVSN commander
KUBINKA, Moscow region. June 16 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Strategic Missile Troops (RVSN) have stopped launches under the Dnepr program that destroyed RS-20 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) after they delivered their payload into space, RVSN Commander Col. Gen. Sergei Karakayev told Interfax-AVN on Tuesday.
"Flight tests under the Dnepr program have been discontinued," the commander said, commenting on the U.S. firm Iridium's plans to commission a Dnepr launch for this October to deliver its two second-generation telecommunications satellites.
Iridium chief Matt Desch said earlier that the Dnepr carrier rocket with the two satellites could lift off in October this year.
According to the spacenews.com website, Desch said that his company is building 81 next-generation satellites, 72 of them are due for launch and nine will remain in reserve.
The first launch will deliver two satellites atop the Dnepr carrier rocket that will be launched from Russia. This will be followed by a launch of seven Falcon 9 carrier rockets four months later. With their help, Iridium is planning to have the target number of its second-generation satellites in orbit by the end of 2017.
Currently, the U.S. firm has 66 first-generation satellites operating in orbit.
Earlier this year Cosmotras, an international space-launch firm, launched yet another Dnepr that delivered a South Korean remote probing satellite into space.
The Dnepr program involves disposing of RS-20B ICBMs (Satan in NATO's classification) by launching them into space with simultaneous delivery of a payload into space.
Cosmotras converts RS-20 ICBMs designed by Yuzhnoy Design Bureau (Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) into Dnepr carrier rockets. These are launched by silo-based systems at Baikonur Cosmodrom and from the launch site of an RVSN unit stationed in Yasny, Orenburg region, which has single-type ICBMs in service. In all, there have been 20 successful Dnepr space launches since 1999.
