{"id":16732,"date":"2014-12-19T20:49:18","date_gmt":"2014-12-19T12:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/russian-built-spy-satellite-rockets-out-of-underground-silo\/"},"modified":"2014-12-19T20:49:18","modified_gmt":"2014-12-19T12:49:18","slug":"russian-built-spy-satellite-rockets-out-of-underground-silo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/russian-built-spy-satellite-rockets-out-of-underground-silo\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian-built spy satellite rockets out of underground silo"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A
A Strela rocket soars from an underground missile silo Friday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. View more launch photos below the story. Credit: Roscosmos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Strela rocket carrying a Russian-built radar surveillance satellite built for an undisclosed foreign customer sprung out of an underground silo in Kazakhstan and fired into orbit Friday.<\/p>\n

The Kondor E spacecraft will look down on Earth, peering through clouds to collect high-resolution imagery around the clock, according to NPO Mashinostroyenia, the satellite\u2019s Moscow-based manufacturer.<\/p>\n

The 115-ton Strela launcher \u2014 a modified Soviet-era SS-19 ballistic missile \u2014 blasted out of an underground launch tube at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 0443 GMT Friday (11:43 p.m. EST), the Russian Federal Space Agency said in a press statement.<\/p>\n

Roscosmos declared the launch successful in a posting on its website.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the appointed time, the spacecraft cleanly separated from the booster stage and (was) transferred to the control of the customer,\u201d Roscosmos said.<\/p>\n

Tracking data from the U.S. Air Force\u2019s Space Surveillance Network indicated the Strela rocket placed the Kondor E spacecraft into orbit approximately 300 miles above Earth. The orbit is inclined at an angle of 74.7 degrees to the equator, according to publicly available tracking information.<\/p>\n

The launch was delayed one day for technical reasons, according to Russia\u2019s Itar-Tass news agency.<\/p>\n

Russian news reports said the satellite was built for a foreign customer, but Russian officials did not specify the end user of the spacecraft.<\/p>\n

\"Artist's
Artist\u2019s concept of a Kondor E satellite in orbit. Credit: NPO Mashinostroyenia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Speculation on the satellite\u2019s owner has focused on South Africa.<\/p>\n

South Africa\u2019s News 24 website reported Friday that the country\u2019s opposition party \u2014 the Democratic Alliance \u2014 has pushed the government for answers on a secretive intelligence program named Project Flute.<\/p>\n

The Democratic Alliance claims South Africa has a $120 million contract with NPO Mashinostroyenia, maker of the Kondor E satellite and the Strela missile, according to a report by News 24.<\/p>\n

The report said South African Defense Secretary Sam Gulube testified in October that a South African military satellite project was on contract and on track to launch, without offering additional details.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

The spacecraft weighs up to 1,150 kilograms, or 2,535 pounds. NPO Mashinostroyenia says the Kondor E satellite\u2019s radar instrument has a best resolution of between 1 and 2 meters \u2014 3.3 feet to 6.5 feet \u2014 in spotlight mode. It can take wider views at lower resolution.<\/p>\n

\"Credit:
Credit: Roscosmos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: Roscosmos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: Roscosmos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: Roscosmos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: Roscosmos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: Roscosmos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Credit:
Credit: Roscosmos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Strela rocket soars from an underground missile silo Friday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. View more launch photos below the story. Credit: Roscosmos A Strela rocket carrying a Russian-built radar surveillance satellite built for an undisclosed foreign customer sprung out of an underground silo in Kazakhstan and fired into orbit Friday. The Kondor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1601,4205,4206,4207],"class_list":["post-16732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-baikonur-cosmodrome","tag-kondor-e","tag-south-africa","tag-strela"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16732"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16732\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}