Russian space agency Roscosmos has failed to establish contact with an Earth observation satellite shortly after its launch from the new Vostochny Cosmodrome site.
A Soyuz-2.1b rocket was used to deploy the Meteor-M 2-1 satellite into a solar-synchronous orbit.
The Baumanets-2 Earth observation satellite and 17 other micro satellites were also piggybacked with the Meteor-M 2-1 during the launch.
The micro satellites were built in Canada, Germany, Japan, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the US, reported Associated Press.
After the failure, Roscosmos said in a statement: “According the flight programme, the first three stages of Soyuz-2.1b have taken the ascent unit into the specified intermediate orbit.
“However, during the first planned communication session with the satellite, it was not possible to establish a connection due to its absence in the target orbit. Currently, the information is being analysed.”
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By GlobalDataAccording to Russian news agencies, a possible software error could have led to the failure of the rocket booster’s final stage, Fregat, during the recent mission.
It is still not confirmed whether the Meteor-M 2-1 and its accompanying satellites descended into the ocean or trapped in low-Earth orbit.
The latest incident represents the second failed launch since the opening of the Vostochny Cosmodrome last April.
