Roscosmos Completes Radar Earth Observation Satellite Constellation

Russia has completed the deployment of the Kondor-FKA radar Earth observation constellation with the launch of a second satellite.

Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, placed the 1,000-kg (2,200-lb.) spacecraft into orbit on a Soyuz 2.1a medium-lift rocket with Fregat booster from Vostochny spaceport, in Russia’s Far East, on Nov. 29 at 6:50 a.m. local time, or 12:50 a.m. Moscow time on Nov. 30.

The spacecraft was placed in a Sun-synchronous orbit and joined the first Kondor-FKA satellite, launched in May 2023. Alexey Rabochiy, a chief designer with spacecraft-maker NPO Mashinostroyenia, said the first satellite’s seven-month validation effort demonstrated the need for only software improvements for the second spacecraft.

The Kondor-FKA employs a synthetic aperture radar, which can monitor the Earth’s surface at night, through heavy clouds or smoke. The S-band radar's mirror antenna has a width of 6 m (20 ft.) and can be mechanically rotated to observe areas on both sides of the satellite’s flightpath. It can provide 1-2-m resolution in spotlight mode, 2-3-m in stripmap mode and 6-12-m during a wide-coverage survey. The satellite can capture up to 200 images in spotlight mode per day.

The addition of the second Kondor-FKA will enable interferometric imaging to determine ground elevations with characteristics to an accuracy of 4 m or better, Rabochiy said.

Although NPO Mashinostroyenia identified Russia’s ministries of emergency relief and agriculture as the constellation’s customer, its main purpose is likely for military reconnaissance.

NPO Mashinostroyenia is developing an improved Kondor FKA-M satellite that will have 0.4-m resolution in spotlight mode. Rabochiy confirmed that the company also is working on the draft design of a new, small-size radar observation spacecraft with active electronically scanned array (AESA) technology. It will deliver lower resolution than Kondor FKA-M and is intended to serve commercial customers, he said.