The Plesetsk launch site in Northern Russia was the location from where a Russian military “space situational awareness” satellite was launched from. The launch by a Soyuz 2-1v rocket occurred at 1752 GMT on 25 November 2019. The spacecraft dubbed Cosmos 2542 (Kosmos 2542) was injected into an 857 x 367 km orbit inclined at 97.9 degrees inclination by a burn of the upper stage. The spacecraft which is believed to be made by NPO Lavotchkin designed to inspect other spacecraft. Given it has an imaging capability, it may have a secondary Earth observation function as well. The spacecraft may have up to four sub-satellites with it although this remains to be confirmed.
Flag of the Russian Federation.
