2 Feb: Russia launches its 5th Lotus-S1 electronic intelligence (ELINT) satellite from Plesetsk on a Soyuz 2-1b.
– Russian military confirmed separation of the Kosmos-2549 satellite & good communications w/ ground control.
– Kosmos-2549 first entered a 200 by 900-km elliptical orbit, but circularized its orbit at around 900 km with an inclination of 67.1°.
– Lotos-S is capable of intercepting radio signals helping to locate, identify, and target various military vehicles and installations.
– Special terminals installed on Russian war ships were reported to be capable of downlinking real-time data directly from the Liana network for the purpose of weapon guidance.
– Unofficial sources indicate that, despite their high cost, the initial Lotos satellites in the series reportedly provided no advantages over Tselina-2, the last of which launched in 2007.
– Lotus-S and PION make up the 2 satellites in Russia’s Liana ISR constellation. The two original Lotus satellites do not appear to be maintaining their orbits, and a Russian industry source said that only Lotos-S1 No. 804 (launched in 2018) satellite was operational when Kosmos-2549 launched. PION-NKS has yet to launch.
