Soyuz-2.1b launch of Resurs-P No.3 satellite. Image Credit: Roscosmos TV
[Satnews] A solar panel on the Russian satellite Resurs-P has unfolded only partially after the spacecraft reached its orbit but its systems are receiving sufficient power supply, State Space Corporation Roscosmos said on Monday.
"The third Resurs-P satellite was successfully delivered into orbit on March 13. After its delivery into orbit, an incomplete unfolding of one of the spacecraft’s solar panels was registered. The spacecraft’s systems are receiving power supply in a sufficient volume for normal operation," Roscosmos said.
Specialists of Russia’s Progress Rocket and Space Center who made the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket and the satellite are now modelling a situation and preparing measures to remedy the situation, Roscosmos said.
The Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with the Resurs-P satellite blasted off from the Baikonur space center at 21:56 Moscow time (18:56 GMT) on Sunday. The satellite separated from the carrier rocket nine minutes after the blast-off and reached the designed orbit.
The launch was initially scheduled for March 12 but was called off as several seconds before the launch the rocket’s engine was automatically idled.
The 5,920-kg Resurs-P No. 3 satellite is designed to replenish the orbital grouping of Russia’s remote sensing satellites expected to comprise 11 space vehicles in 2016.
The first Resurs-DK satellite was put into orbit in June 2006, followed by Resurs-P No.1 in June 2013 and Resurs-P No.2 in December 2014. The third apparatus was manufactured at the Samara-based Progress Rocket and Space Center.
