On September 9 at 19:59 UTC, a Soyuz 2.1v launched the Razbeg satellite into a 300km sun-synchronous orbit from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia. Razbeg is a small optical remote sensing satellite weighing 250 kilograms. It has a Ritchey–Chrétien type telescope, which is a design that eliminates aberrations across a large field of view and is used in almost all research telescopes today. 

The telescope has a sensor capable of providing sub-meter ground resolution from a 300-kilometer orbit. It replaces the technology demonstrator “experimental small space apparatus”, or EMKA, which launched in 2018 and operated until earlier this year. Once Razbeg was in orbit, it was given the designation Kosmos 2551. The launch was delayed from late July 2021 for unknown reasons.

The launch vehicle for Razbeg, the Soyuz 2.1v, is a distant cousin of the usual Soyuz 2.1a or b we see used for most Soyuz launches. Unlike its cousins, the Soyuz 2.1v rocket lacks the four boosters of the regular Soyuz which produce its distinctive Korolev Cross. The usual first-stage engine is replaced with a 50-year-old engine that was originally built for the unsuccessful N1 Soviet Moon rocket. On the Soyuz 2.1v, that vintage engine is augmented with a vernier engine derived from the Soyuz second stage. The smaller vernier engine provides roll control on the first stage of the 2.1v since the main engine can only control pitch. For comparison, the regular Soyuz first-stage engine has four fixed nozzles and four vernier nozzles plumbed into the same turbopumps to provide pitch, yaw, and roll control after the boosters separate. The two rockets have the same second stage.

More Information

EMKA info page (Gunter’s Space Page)

RD0110R info page (KBKHA) (Russian)

Launch video