Russia's Failed Military Satellite to Burn Up in Atmosphere

By The Moscow Times

Dec. 7, 2015

The satellite failed to separate from the rocket due to a technical malfunction, the source said. Federal Space Agency

Russia has lost an advanced military ocean surveillance satellite launched on Saturday, TASS news agency reported Monday.

The Kanopus-ST satellite was one of the two military-purpose spacecrafts launched by the Soyuz-2.1B rocket from Russia's Plesetsk cosmodrome.

The satellite failed to separate from the rocket due to a technical malfunction, the source said.

It is expected to burn up upon re-entering the Earth's atmosphere on Tuesday, TASS reported, citing North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and Russian aerospace industry sources.

Kanopus-ST was a dual-purpose satellite designed to scan Earth's oceans in both optical and UHF ranges. It was under construction for 10 years and considered a highly advanced spacecraft, the Kommersant newspaper reported Monday.

Civilian scientists could have used it as a meteorological and a hydrological instrument. It could scan the sea and spot submarines along with other objects for the military, according to Kommersant.

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