[FPSPACE] Did Meridian-2 fall short of target orbit?

[Igor Lissov]

Hi,

The Reshetnev company today announced the launch of Meridian
so I guess it will be the final name for the satellite.
The news release quotes perfect condition of Meridian and 
says that the orbit is close to the target. So it's not 
abandoned at least.

http://www.iss-reshetnev.ru/?cid=news&nid=726

My fast calculations show Meridian-2 need from 65 to 115 m/sec 
to get to the final 718 min orbit depending on the perigee 
selected.

As of Meridian/Raduga/Cosmos controversies: it's a long story
but in short, Russia just doesn't announce official names of 
our military spacecraft before the note is sent to the U.N.
office in Geneve many months from now. There is no person
or agency charged with the task.

So news agencies and even PR office of the Space Forces give 
or give not names on their own understanding and prejudices. 
The rule of thumb is that if you hear a proper name from 
Roscosmos, Space Forces or producer, that is that, but if 
you hear of a Cosmos satellite things may change. In fact, 
no fake Cosmos identifications made it into the U.N. notes 
in recent years.

Igor Lissov