SkySat 2

Spacecraft nº:

US spacecraft nº:

Launch data: Designation  40072 / 14037D Launch date  08 Jul 2014 - 15:58 UT Launch site  Baik, LC-31/6 Launch vehicle  Soyuz-2-1b Fregat-M Mission  Earth observation, imaging Earth orbit: Perigee / Apogee  624 x 634 km Eccentricity   Inclination   98.38° Period  97.29 min

Identical on Skysat 1

Spacecraft data:

Description:

• SkySat-2 (identical on SkySat-1) is a commercial Earth observation satellite by Skybox Imaging, licensed to collect high resolution panchromatic and multispectral images of the earth. The satellite will operate in a polar inclined, circular orbit at approximately 450 km above the earth.

Mission details:

• On Jul 8 2014 at 1558 UTC Russia launched a Soyuz-2-1B with a Fregat upper stage. The Blok-I stage entered a 183 x 198 km orbit; the Fregat then maneuvered to 191 x 813 km and 818 x 828 km x 98.8 deg, where it deployed the Meteor-M No. 2 weather satellite in an 0900LTDN SSO.
• The Fregat then restarted at 1736 UTC to enter a 638 x 825 km orbit, ejected a payload adapter frame and the Relek (MKA-FKI) satellite which will study relativistic electrons in the magnetosphere. A further burn to 635 x 635 km was followed by deployment at 1828 to 1832 UTC of the TDS-1, SkySat-2, DX-1, AISSat-2, and UKube-1 satellites.

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