Kondor-E 1

Spacecraft nº:

South Africa spacecraft nº: 4

Launch data:

Spacecraft data:

Description:

• KONDOR-E is a Russian-built radar surveillance satellite built for an undisclosed foreign customer. Speculation on the satellite's owner has focused on South Africa. The Kondor-E satellite carries a synthetic aperture radar payload with a deployable web-like antenna. The radar can gather views of Earth in night and day, according to a fact sheet on the spacecraft posted on NPO Mashinostroyenia's website. The spacecraft weighs up to 1,150 kilograms, or 2,535 pounds. NPO Mashinostroyenia says the Kondor E satellite's radar instrument has a best resolution of between 1 and 2 meters-3.3 feet to 6.5 feet-in spotlight mode. It can take wider views at lower resolution.

Mission details:

• The second Kondor radar imaging satellite built by NPO Mashinostroenie (Moscow/Reutov) was launched into a 498 x 501 km x 74.7 deg orbit on Dec 19, 2014 aboard a Strela launch vehicle, which is a refurbished UR-100NU ballistic missile launched from a silo. This satellite, Kondor-E No. 2, is the export version of the spacecraft and has reportedly been sold to an unnamed foreign customer, reportedly the Defense Intelligence organization of the South African National Defense Force. The South African government refuses to confirm or deny this, raising the question of who will register this satellite with the UN. The balance of currently available evidence seems to be that South Africa is the actual, if secret, legal owner of the satellite.

External links:

• Satellite tracking:
  Real time satellite tracking