[FPSPACE] ROSCOSMOS ANNOUNCES LAUNCH SCHEDULE

[Jeff Foust]

>>>At the end of
>>>November, a RS-20 (Dnieper carrier rocket) is scheduled to place six
>>>light satellites into orbit.
> 
> 
> Does anyone know, which satellites will be on the Dniepr launch vehicle?
> I think one is the egyptian Desertsat.

At the AIAA/Utah State University smallsat conference earlier this 
month, Simon Lee of Cal Poly Pomona said they planned to launch a group 
of cubesats on a Dnepr mission scheduled for late 2004 or early 2005, 
which would be consistent with the launch date mentioned in the RIAN 
article.  Lee said they planned to fly as many as 14 cubesats from 10 
universities, although the total mass of all the spacecraft, including 
the P-POD dispensers, was just 28 kg. (A typical cubesat weighs about 1 
kg.)  This will require five P-PODs, which, if counted as individual 
spacecraft, could account for five of the six "light satellites" 
mentioned in the report.  Lee did not mention what other payload(s) 
would be on that Dnepr flight.

TransOrbital had previously said that they planned to launch their 
TrailBlazer lunar mission on a Dnepr some time this year, but it was my 
impression that the launch date was slipping (again) because of 
satellite manufacturing delays and/or other issues.

Jeff Foust
jfoust at alum.mit.edu