At 0227 GMT on 30 November 2018, a Russian military launch of three “Rodnik-S” satellites took place aboard a Rockot launch vehicle flying out of Plestetsk. Rodnik class spacecraft are small 225kg “store-forward” communications satellites used by the Russian intelligence community. Being military satellites they have been given the military designator Cosmos (Kosmos) 2530, 2531 and 2532. The launch was also supposed to be carrying a small laser reflecting satellite called Blits M, however, in the end this did not make the flight and will be launched at a later date.
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