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Issue 128

04 Flash · Integrity Flash 2025 · Members Only

Russia Launches 4 Imagery Satellites

21 Aug 2025: Russia launched its 5th Angara-1.2 launch vehicle from Plesetsk. On board were multiple military spacecraft which were successfully delivered to low earth orbit (LEO). Russia's Ministry of Defense released little/no information regarding the satellites, however there is evidence that the Angara delivered…

Author Greg Gillinger Published September 2, 2025

21 Aug 2025: Russia launched its 5th Angara-1.2 launch vehicle from Plesetsk. On board were multiple military spacecraft which were successfully delivered to low earth orbit (LEO). Russia’s Ministry of Defense released little/no information regarding the satellites, however there is evidence that the Angara delivered four OO MKA imagery satellites (65267-65270) into a 334 x 317km, 96.6° inclined sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). Launch Video.

– As usual, Bart Hendrickx had the best information regarding this launch. Per Bart’s post on nasaspaceflight.com:

  • “Apparently these satellites are of the same type as Kosmos-2577 and 2578, launched by Angara-1.2 in September last year. Earlier satellites belonging to this series would seem to have been Kosmos-2551 (Soyuz-2.1v), Kosmos-2555 (Angara-1.2), Kosmos-2560 (Angara-1.2), Kosmos-2568 (Soyuz-2.1v), Kosmos-2574 (Soyuz-2.1v) and Kosmos-2575 (Soyuz-2.1v).”
  • “Early versions were called ‘EO MKA’ and later ones ‘OO MKA…’ EO and OO denote different phases in the research phase of a project, with OO being closer to the operational version.”
  • “The four new satellites…expand the coverage of the constellation. They are in an orbital plane separated by about 40° from that of Kosmos-2578 (Kosmos-2577 never maneuvered and re-entered last February, most likely due to an on-board failure).”
  • “Kosmos-2578’s orbital plane in turn is only about 4° from that of Kosmos-2574 and 2575. The orbits of Kosmos-2575 and 2578 are being phased to ensure that they pass over the same general region on Earth with an interval of roughly 45 minutes.”
  • “The four satellites were released in pairs with a certain interval. This suggests that they were stacked two by two on top of each other, which is also confirmed by the fact that Angara-1.2 used its standard payload fairing for this launch…the satellites now seem to have reached a level of maturity that has given the Russians enough confidence to launch four of them in one go. With Angara-1.2 having a maximum payload capacity to Sun-synchronous orbit of 2.4 tons, the individual mass of the satellites should not exceed 600 kg.”
  • “If the four new satellites mimic the behavior of their maneuverable predecessors, their orbits will initially decay to about 300 km before they start making orbit corrections. These are most likely made with an electric propulsion system.”
  • “There can be little doubt that these satellites are on some type of optical reconnaissance mission…the high launch rate is a clear sign that it has been given high priority by the Ministry of Defense.”