The Belarusian satellite was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome

July 22, Minsk /Olga Belyavskaya - BELTA/. The Belarusian Earth remote sensing satellite was launched today from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, a BELTA correspondent reports. The launch took place at 9:41 AM Minsk time. The Belarusian spacecraft (BKA) was launched into space in a cluster of five spacecraft, along with the Russian spacecraft "Canopus-V", the Russian MKA-FKI ("Zond-PP"), the German TET-1, and the Canadian ADS-1B. In approximately 43 minutes, the Belarusian satellite will be placed into an orbit close to its operational orbit of about 500-520 km by the "Soyuz-FG" space rocket with the "Fregat" upper stage. The Belarusian spacecraft will provide complete coverage of the territory of Belarus with space imagery. Its weight is about 400 kg, and its resolution in the panchromatic range is about 2 m. The BKA has high dynamic characteristics, meaning it is maneuverable and can quickly adjust its orbit to capture images at the desired angle. Thanks to the satellite launch, Belarus will be able to create an independent Earth remote sensing system, which will allow it to dispense with the services of other countries for obtaining and processing space information. Mikhail Zakharevich, a senior researcher at the Scientific Research Unit of the Republican Unitary Enterprise "Geoinformation Systems" of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, specified the exact time that will pass from the satellite launch to its reaching orbit – 2,674 seconds. "The 'Soyuz-FG' launch vehicle launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, and the peculiarity is that it must ensure a retrograde orbit inclination for all deployed spacecraft," he noted. "This means that the inclination must be greater than 90 degrees, so we are launching not in the direction of Earth's rotation, but against it, and the energy expenditure is accordingly higher." According to the expert, approximately 5 seconds after the separation of the upper stage from the launch vehicle, the main engines of the upper stage are activated, and it places the cluster of spacecraft into a transfer orbit – this is the first active phase. "Then follows the second active phase, which brings the upper stage to the separation orbit, and the Belarusian spacecraft is the first to separate," he added. "This is because the Russian 'Canopus-V' spacecraft is supposed to fly in the same orbit but in antiphase with our spacecraft. Therefore, it separates second and is given a negative velocity impulse." All information from the Belarusian and Russian satellites will be received by both the Russian and Belarusian Mission Control Centers (MCC). -0-