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A Soyuz thruster is expected to be launched from French Guiana on Sunday evening with a military reconnaissance satellite built in Europe for the United Arab Emirates, the twin of a United Arab Emirates surveillance craft lost in a rocket failure last year.
The 2,623-pound (1,190-kilogram) Falcon Eye 2 satellite is closed inside the forward cone of a Soyuz ST-A rocket scheduled to take off at 8:33:28 p.m. EST Sunday (Monday, 1:33:28 p.m. GMT).
After heading north from the European spaceport in French Guiana, the Soyuz ST-A rocket will aim to place the Airbus-built spacecraft in a 379-mile (611-kilometer) circular synchronous solar orbit that flies over the poles of Earth. .
The mission – managed by French company Arianespace – will mark the 24th flight of a Russian-made Soyuz rocket from French Guiana, and the 12th launch of a Soyuz rocket from launch sites around the world this year.
The launch of the UAE’s Falcon Eye 2 satellite comes more than a year after an identical spacecraft named Falcon Eye 1 was destroyed in a Vega rocket failure in July 2019.
The Falcon Eye 1 mission was insured for 369 million euros, or $ 407 million, including the value of the satellite and the launch, according to Space News.
Officials from the UAE government, which owns the billion-dollar Falcon Eye program, decided after last year’s failure to replace the launch of the same Falcon Eye 2 satellite in the launch schedule of Arianespace from a Vega rocket by a Soyuz booster.
The light-class Vega rocket is one of three launchers operated by Arianespace from the Guiana Space Center, alongside the Russian-made Soyuz medium transport launcher and the Ariane 5 heavy rocket.
Airbus Defense and Space built the Falcon Eye satellites and Thales Alenia Space provided the high-resolution optical imaging payloads for the two spacecraft.
The deal between the United Arab Emirates and French industry for the construction of the Falcon Eye satellites was negotiated with the support of the French government, but a security review by the US government delayed the final signing of the contract between the Arab Emirates United States, Airbus and Thales until 2014. The satellites use components made in the United States, which prompted the Obama administration to temporarily suspend the agreement until authorities finally approve the export of the parts. American troops for the UAE army.
The Falcon Eye 2 satellite will provide high-resolution surveillance images to the UAE military. The two Falcon Eye spacecraft were built on the design of the French Pleiades Earth imagery satellites launched in 2011 and 2012, and are said to have a resolution of around 2.3 feet, or 70 centimeters, in their mode of operation. highest resolution imagery.
After switching to a Soyuz rocket, the Falcon Eye 2 satellite was due to take off in March. But technical issues with the Fregat top stage of the Soyuz rocket and delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic have forced officials to postpone the flight to November.
The launch sequence of the Soyuz rocket and the Fregat upper stage on Sunday evening will last nearly 59 minutes between takeoff and the separation of the Falcon Eye 2 satellite in orbit.
The kerosene-powered Soyuz ST-A rocket will descend from its launch pad with over 900,000 pounds of thrust, accelerate to the speed of sound, and release its four liquid strap boosters approximately two minutes after the mission begins.
The rocket payload shroud will drop to Plus + 3 minutes, 59 seconds, followed by stopping and separating the Soyuz center stage at Plus + 4 minutes, 47 seconds.
The third-stage RD-0110 engine will burn for approximately four minutes before deploying the Fregat upper stage to Plus + 8 minutes, 48 seconds, for a pair of shots to first reach a parking orbit around the Earth, then enters a circular 379-mile- high orbit.
The separation of the Falcon Eye 2 satellite is scheduled for Plus + 58 minutes, 45 seconds or 9:32 PM EST (0232 GMT).
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