Kondor satellites are equipped to carry either synthetic aperture radar or electro-optical imaging payloads, with the first satellite, and are launched using the Strela carrier rocket, developed by NPO Mashinostroyeniya from retired UR-100NUTTKh missiles.[3]
A mass simulator named Gruzomaket (aka Kondor-E-GVM, COSPAR 2003-055A [4]) was launched on 5 December 2003, and almost ten years later, on 27 June 2013, the first spacecraft was launched. Kondor No.202 (aka Kosmos 2487, Kondor 1, COSPAR 2013-032A[5]) was operated by the Russian military,[1] and carried a radar imaging payload.[6] It was the first radar imaging satellite to be operated by the Russian military after the Soviet RORSAT and Almaz-T series. The first Kondor-E (Kondor-E 1, COSPAR 2014-084A[7]) launched 19 December 2014 for South Africa.[8]
Civilian versions of the satellite have been designed under the name Kondor-FKA or Kondor-FKA-M.[9][10] The launch of the first Kondor-FKA satellite took place on 26 May 2023 from the Vostochny Cosmodrome,[11] while the launch of the second took place on 30 November 2024 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.[12]
References
^ ab"Issue 681". Jonathan's Space Report. Retrieved 28 June 2013.
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).
