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Russia to launch Spektr-RG space observatory

Russia's official reported replacement of the electric current source in the observatory

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Launch of Spektr-RG space observatory delayed to backup date

VOSTOCHNY COSMODROME /Amur Region/, July 5. /TASS/. Russian specialists have replaced a chemical source of the electric current in the Spektr-RG space telescope and the launch will take place on July 12, Head of Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin said on Friday.

The Roscosmos chief made this statement after the successful launch of the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with the Meteor-M weather satellite and 32 mini-satellites from the Vostochny space center in the Russian Far East.

"Everything has been prepared. It [the electric current’s source] was replaced the following day. There was simply no available launch window. Now we have this launch scheduled for July 12," the Roscosmos chief said.

All the necessary maintenance work on the carrier rocket and the booster is complete, Rogozin said.

The launch of the Spektr-RG space observatory was initially scheduled for June 21 but it was canceled on its liftoff day. Roscosmos Deputy CEO for Space Systems Mikhail Khailov explained the decision by the problems that had emerged during an inspection of a non-reusable chemical power source on the space telescope.

The Spektr-RG is the joint Russian-German project intended to create a detailed map of the sky in the X-ray band. The space observatory will be scanning the sky in a broad energy band with high sensitivity and angular resolution.

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