Article Posted on : - May 06, 2011

An unrelated photo of a Soyuz 2 rocket

MOSCOW (BNS): Russia has successfully put in orbit Meridian-4 military communications satellite, according to a news report.

A Soyuz-2-1a/Fregat rocket carrying the fourth Meridian spacecraft lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia at 09.41 pm Moscow time on Wednesday, Russian news agency Ria Novosti said.

The report quoting Lt. Col. Alexei Zolotukhin said that a communication link with the Meridian 4 had been established, and the satellite's on-board systems were operating without glitches.

The Meridian 4 satellite, also known as Meridian No.14L, is the fourth in a series of military communications satellites being launched by Russia to replace the ageing Molniya system.

The Molniya system was initially developed in the early 1960s to demonstrate the use of satellites to relay military communications.

The third Meridian satellite was launched in November last year. After the launch, the Soyuz-2-1a rocket was declared operational and accepted into military service.

Meridian satellites are manufactured by ISS Reshetnev, based around a pressurised bus similar to that used for GLONASS-M satellites, reports said.

Russia has more than 100 satellites in orbit. Two-thirds of them are military or dual-purpose spacecraft.