DUMSAT (Gruzovoy Maket)

Launch data: Designation  26086 / 00009A Launch date  08 Feb 2000 - 23:20 UT Launch site  Baik., LC-31 Launch vehicle  Soyuz-U/Fregat (11A511U) S/N° A15000-079 ST07 Mission  Technology Earth orbit on Feb 9.10, 2000: Perigee / Apogee  581 x 606 km Eccentricity  0.002 Inclination  64.86° Period  96.55 min

Spacecraft data:

Mission details:

• The first test flight of the Soyuz-Fregat launch vehicle was on Feb 8, 2000. The Fregat upper stage is derived from Lavochkin's Fobos/Mars-96 ADU propulsion unit. It uses the same liquid engine as Rokot's Briz upper stage. The three-stage 11A511U Soyuz-U rocket placed Fregat and its payload in a suborbital trajectory. A first Fregat burn to transfer orbit was followed by a second burn at apogee to circularize the orbit. Fregat then deployed a 1-tonne dummy mass. The dummy satellite was placed in a 581 x 606 km x 64.8 deg orbit.
• After several hours, Fregat made a third burn to lower perigee, followed by a fourth at perigee to deorbit. It then separated the attached IRDT (Inflatable Reentry and Descent Technology) payload, a joint project between ESA, the German DASA and the Russian Lavochkin company. IRDT was built by DASA-Bremen and Lavochkin. IRDT separated, and both Fregat and IRDT deployed inflatable heat shields for reentry. According to the ESA web site they landed in Russia 8 hours after launch with an impact velocity of about 47 kph. No report yet on how well the payloads survived; a Russian report indicates the landing was in the Orenburg recovery zone but that the landers have not yet been found. IRDT was 110 kg and had a shield 0.8m in size packed, inflating to 3.6m dia. on use. Fregat itself had a 4-m diameter shield.