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February 28, 2015
Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying Bars-M1 launch
Russian northern spaceport Plesetsk Cosmodrome has sent off yet another brand new reconnaissance satellite on Thursday, February 26 at 11:01 UTC on board a Soyuz-2.1a rocket from pad 43/4. 10 minutes later the satellite was deployed into a polar orbit in which it would move to its operational orbit about 500 km high.
As is typical for classified Russian military missions, the launch was not broadcast.
Launch of "Soyuz-2.1a" military satellite on board
Bars-M1 will replace the older generation of film-return regional coverage spysats that has last flew 10 years ago as the Russian military and government new medium-resolution optical reconnaissance satellite tinkered for mapping use (cartography satellite), a vital function for pinpointing the locations of targets of interest.
Bars-M1 military Satellite
The spacecraft uses a new satellite bus from the Samara Space Center (builder of the Soyuz rocket and many Russian military/civilian Earth observation satellites) and optical systems from the famous LOMO.
Images, Video, Text, Credits: Russian Ministry of Defense/RT/Sen.com (image of Bars-M1 satellite)/Orbiter.ch Aerospace.
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