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Russia reschedules launch of Gonets communications satellites for December 3

The launch has been delayed due to problems with the rocket, according to the source

MOSCOW, November 23. /TASS/. The launch of three Gonets-M communications satellites from the Plesetsk spaceport delayed over technical faults with the carrier rocket has been tentatively scheduled for December 3, a source in the domestic space industry told TASS on Monday.

"The launch of Gonets satellites has been tentatively rescheduled for December 3," the source said.

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Gonets-M satellites first time orbited by Soyuz-2.1b rocket from Plesetsk

Another source earlier told TASS that the launch of Gonets-M communications satellites from the Plesetsk spaceport in northern Russia had been delayed due to problems with the rocket. Specialists would disassemble the carrier and replace some of its parts, the source specified.

Russia’s Aerospace Force Commander-in-Chief Colonel-General Sergei Surovikin reported to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu last week that the launch of a Soyuz-2 carrier rocket for putting a cluster of satellites into orbit would take place on November 24 and a combat team of the Defense Ministry was completing technological operations for preparing the rocket for its delivery to the launch pad.

The Gonets is Russia’s sole low-orbit satellite communications system designed for the global exchange of various types of information with mobile and stationary facilities, and for organizing re-broadcasting channels for various purposes. The system allows transmitting Glonass coordinate data from a mobile post to remote monitoring and communications centers, irrespective of a subscriber’s location.

The Gonets next-generation satellite system will offer communications, including telephone services, in hard-to-access places, including the Arctic, and provide infrastructure for the Internet of things. In a perspective, it will allow transmitting data online from any objects, including mobile. The orbital grouping is expected to comprise 28 satellites in low near-Earth orbit.

A Soyuz-2 medium three-stage carrier rocket delivers satellites into near-Earth orbits of various altitudes. The first launch of a Soyuz-2 rocket took place from the Plesetsk spaceport in November 2004.

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