The Russian military satellite Meridian, launched into an off-design orbit in 2009, entered the earth’s atmosphere and burned up over Antarctica. This is evidenced by the data of the US Air Force, published on the specialized portal space-track.org on April 24.
According to the information provided, the satellite entered the earth’s atmosphere the day before at a point with coordinates 59.7 degrees south latitude and 147.1 degrees east longitude.
Information about the wreckage and fragments of the satellite has not been reported.
On April 22, the general director of the company “Information satellite systems. M.F. Reshetnev “Nikolay Testoedov said that the first navigation satellite of the new generation” Glonass-K2 “will be launched into orbit in the IV quarter of 2021.
At the end of February, the Soyuz rocket with the Meridian-M satellite was launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region. Later that day, a military satellite was taken over to control the ground assets of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS).
In January, a source in the rocket and space industry said that it is planned to launch five Glonass navigation satellites this year, Gazeta.ru writes.
“Meridian” – communication satellites of the second generation, replaced the devices “Molniya” and “Raduga”. The active satellites are active for seven years.