Fregat

Launch data:

Mission details:

• 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.
• Fregat deployed 14 m dia inflatable heat shield and landed in the Orenberg area, but bad weather prevented recovery. (Ref. #206)