Cosmos 2482

Launch data:

Spacecraft data:

Description:

• COSMOS 2482 is a Russian military satellite deployed in nearly circular orbit with altitude of about 1500 km, inclination of 82.5 degrees, and orbital period of about 116 minutes. This is a Rodnik-S/14F132 satellite. Rodnik is a successor of Strela-3 communication satellites (sometimes referred to as Strela-3M).

Mission details:

• Originally, it was planned for August 2012, but problems with the Briz-M Upper Stage of the Russian Proton Rockets caused the first delay, because Rockot uses the Briz-KM which shares a lot of components with the larger Briz-M. The issue is related to the Briz-KM control system. The Briz-KM Upper stage, manufactured by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, has shown a fair amount of problems lately. The most recent Rockot flight in July also suffered a launch delay due to Briz-KM problems and the flight before that, in February 2011, ended in failure when a Briz-KM Upper Stage encountered a malfunction, placing the Payloads in a lower-than-planned Orbit.
• On December 7, 2012 the launch was delayed again when teams found problems with the avionics of the Briz-KM that were revealed during launch preparations.
• A Russian Rockot Launch Vehicle lifted off from Site 133/3 at Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia, on Tuesday at 16:24:59 UTC – making the first orbital launch of the year.
• Launch was on time and the Rockot launcher blasted as planned. After five minutes of powered flight, the two stages of the rocket had done their job and the Briz-KM upper stage carrying the three payloads was released into its planned sub-orbital trajectory. From there, Briz-KM coasted uphill for a short period of time before performing an engine burn to boost the stack into a transfer orbit. Once the stack had achieved orbit, a coast phase began before at least one more firing of the Briz-KM took place to circularize the orbit. Spacecraft separation came at 18:09 UTC to successfully complete this mission.
• After reaching a circular orbit of about 1,480 by 1,500 Kilometers, Briz-KM deployed the three Rodnik-S Military Communications Satellites. Afterwards, the upper stage was to fire its engine again to perform a burn to lower the perigee of its orbit which was done on all recent Rodnik/Strela satellite launches. Lowering the perigee of the orbit would accelerate orbital decay to reduce the time the upper stage is spending in orbit as part of orbital debris reduction. Apparently, this maneuver did not take place as the orbit of the upper stage remained unchanged.
• In this type of mission the Briz-KM upper stage usually makes a depletion burn to lower perigee to around 1200 km, but the extra burn failed to take place this time.
• Aug 2013: Two of those satellites, Cosmos-2482 and Cosmos-2484, maneuvered to their operational 115.86 min, 1472 x 1515 km orbit, which involved raising their apogees by around 10 km over a period of a month. Cosmos-2483, however, remains in its original 115.76min, 1477 x 1502 km insertion orbit. An Aug 6, 2013 article from RIA Novosti reveals that the Rokot's Briz upper stage malfunctioned, presumably at the satellite deployment stage.

Satellite tracking: