Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Second Glonass launch of 2007

The Russian strategic nuclear forces blog is reporting on December 25, 2007 Russia successfully launched Proton-M rocket from the Baykonur launch site (launch pad No. 24 of the launch complex No. 81). The launch took place at 22:32:34 MSK (19:32:34 UTC). The rocket, equipped with DM upper stage, delivered three Glonass-M navigation satellites into orbit.

The satellites have been deployed in semi-synchronous circular orbits with altitude of about 19130 km and the inclination of 64.7 degrees. The satellites received international designations 2007-065A, 2007-066B, and 2007-067C. At this time, the only available NORAD catalog number is 32393 for the 2007-065A satellite. Two other satellites are likely to be assigned NORAD numbers 32394 and 32395. Official Russian designations for the spacecraft have not been announced yet, but it is likely that the satellites will be designated Cosmos-2435, Cosmos-2436, and Cosmos-2437. Reported internal Glonass numbers are 21, 22, and 23.

The satellites are deployed in the second orbital plane of the Glonass constellation, complementing three active satellites there. The table below shows the current distribution of satellites. [The table will be updated as the information becomes available.]

Previous launch of Glonass satellites took place on October 26, 2007.


SSC# NORAD name Intl Desig Russian desig Plane/point Glonass number
26566 Cosmos-2374 2000-063C 783 3/18 [1]
26987 Cosmos-2382 2001-053A 711 1/5 [1][2]
26988 Cosmos-2381 2001-053B 789 1/3 [1]
27617 Cosmos-2394 2002-060A 791 3/22 [1]
27619 Cosmos-2395 2002-060C 792 3/21 [1]
28112 Cosmos-2404 2003-056A 701 1/6 [3]
28113 Cosmos-2402 2003-056B 794 1/2 [1]
28114 Cosmos-2403 2003-056C 795 1/4
28508 Cosmos-2413 Cosmos-2411 2004-053A 796 1/1
28509 Cosmos-2411 Cosmos-2413 2004-053B 712 1/7 [3]
28510 Cosmos-2412 2004-053C 797 1/8
28915 Cosmos-2419 2005-050A 714 3/23 [3]
28916 Cosmos-2418 2005-050B 713 3/24 [3]
28917 Cosmos-2417 2005-050C 798 3/22 [1][4]
29670 Cosmos-2425 2006-062A 716 2/15 [3]
29671 Cosmos-2426 2006-062B 717 2/10 [3]
29672 Cosmos-2424 2006-062C 715 2/14 [3]
32275 Cosmos-2433 2007-052A 720 3/19 [3]
32276 Cosmos-2432 2007-052B 719 3/20 [3]
32277 Cosmos-2431 2007-052C 718 3/17 [3]
32393 Cosmos-24?? 2007-065A 72? 2/?? [3]
32394 Cosmos-24?? 2007-065B 72? 2/?? [3]
32395 Cosmos-24?? 2007-065C 72? 2/?? [3]

[1] Not active as of December 27, 2007
[2] Glonass-M prototype
[3] Glonass-M
[4] Moved from the point 3/19 in November 2007