MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/: Russia’s carrier rocket Soyuz ST-A with the United Arab Emirates’ Falcon Eye 2 military satellite could not blast off early on Tuesday from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana over technical problems, CEO of the Arianespace corporation Stephane Israel said.
According to him, problems with transmitting telemetry data occurred during the preparations for the launch. The carrier rocket and the satellite are in good order and will be switched to a standby mode. The new launch will be carried out exactly the same time the next day.
Initially, the liftoff was scheduled for November 29. Director General of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin said that the launch was postponed until November 30.
The Soyuz-ST-A carrier rocket was developed and is manufactured by Russia’s Progress Space Rocket Center under the Soyuz program at the Guiana Space Center.
The launch vehicle is a modification of the Soyuz-2 carrier rocket of stage 1a adapted to the requirements of operation at the Guiana Space Center in terms of safety (receipt of telecommands from Earth to terminate the flight), the telemetry system (transmitters operating in the decimeter band with the European telemetry frame structure) and the conditions of operation (increased humidity, transportation by sea and others).
According to Arianespace, Falcon Eye 2 was created jointly by Airbus Defense and Thales Alenia Space companies. It will become part of the system controlled by the UAE’s operators and will fulfill two functions: supporting missions of the country’s Armed Forces and imaging the Earth surface for commercial projects.
