Just as in 1961, the Ukrainian people watched the launch of the first man-on-board rocket on the equator of January 2022, they looked at the Ukrainian satellite going to the sky. The difference is that this time there is no conflict between states. On January 13, 2022, the Ukrainian satellite was sent with the help of an American company dealing with orbital launches and the construction of SpaceX rockets.
Earlier, in 2011, SpaceX had launched an Earth remote sensing spacecraft from Ukraine called Sich-2. This year the Falcon 9 launched an improved version of the hub.
The name of the new orbiter is Sich-2-30. Work on the modification began in 2017 based on well-known Ukrainian invest.com/investing-in-ukraine/starting-business-in-ukraine/build-an-enterprise/" rel="dofollow">enterprises. The development and construction of the satellite were carried out by the Ukrainian design bureau Yuzhnoye named after M. K. Yanhel. The completed model has a total weight of 210 kg. The satellite is designed to audit the ionosphere and retrieve digital photographs of the planet from space.
At about 6:00 p.m., the optical satellite was launched. At 7:00 p.m., it separated from the Elon Musk rocket and entered orbit. The Ukrainian optical apparatus is expected to work for 36 months.
Ukraine paid $1.99 million to launch the spacecraft from the American shuttle. But that move brought a country with space potential back into the big game.
