A Soyuz rocket is scheduled for launch Friday with Russia\u2019s Resurs P2 satellite, a civilian-operated spacecraft with a sharp-eyed camera to collect high-resolution imagery for Russian government authorities and international agencies.<\/p>\n
The Soyuz 2-1b launcher is set for liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 1855 GMT (1:55 p.m. EST). The three-stage rocket will head north from its launch pad in Central Asia, shedding four liquid-fueled boosters, a clamshell-like payload fairing, and a core engine during a nine-minute flight into orbit.<\/p>\n
The rocket\u2019s RD-0124 third stage engine, burning a mixture of liquid oxygen and kerosene, will deploy the Resurs P2 spacecraft into an initial elliptical orbit. The spacecraft\u2019s own propulsion system will later place the satellite into a circular 295-mile-high orbit at an inclination of 97.2 degrees.<\/p>\n
The approximately seven-ton Resurs P2 satellite was manufactured by TsSKB Progress of Samara, Russia. The same storied space company is prime contractor for Russia\u2019s Soyuz rocket family.<\/p>\n
Resurs P2 will take black-and-white imagery with a top resolution of 1 meter, or about 3.3 feet. The satellite\u2019s multispectral, or color, images will resolve objects on the ground as small as 2 or 3 meters \u2014 about 7 to 10 feet.<\/p>\n
The satellite will join the Resurs P1 Earth observation spacecraft launched in June 2013.<\/p>\n
The Resurs system\u2019s users include the Russian government\u2019s ministries responsible for agriculture, the environment, emergency situations, fisheries, meteorology and cartography, according to information posted on the website of TsSKB Progress.<\/p>\n
Resurs satellite data could also be shared with international environmental agencies and other governments collaborating with Russia.<\/p>\n
Resurs P2 also hosts a ship-tracking communications payload and a nearly 700-pound particle physics experiment to study exotic cosmic rays, antimatter and dark matter in the universe.<\/p>\n
Russian rocket technicians transferred the Soyuz 2-1b booster with Resurs P2 to the Site 31 launch facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Dec. 24.<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s launch will come less than two days after another Soyuz rocket blasted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia with a military spy satellite.<\/p>\n
The video and photos below \u2014 provided by Roscosmos \u2014 show the Soyuz rocket\u2019s rollout on rail tracks.<\/p>\n