In brief

• Roscosmos reported a Soyuz-2.1b launch from Vostochny that it described as the first state-subsidised flight of private satellites under the national Space project.
• The main payloads are two Earth-observation satellites, KOEN and Kinosputnik, with resolutions of 0.5 and 0.8 metres.
• Of 12 secondary satellites, eleven were launched under private contracts; two may belong to NPO Kaysant, a claim that is unconfirmed and comes only from propaganda media.

Launch from Vostochny

A Soyuz-2.1b rocket lifted off from the Vostochny cosmodrome at 04:16 Moscow time, carrying a main payload of two Earth-observation satellites: KOEN, built by MT-LAB, and Kinosputnik, from the Sputnix group. The two craft are designed to image the surface at resolutions of 0.5 and 0.8 metres respectively (Роскосмос отчитался о первом субсидированном запуске частных спутников. Среди них могли быть аппараты поставщика связи для военных – The Insider).

Secondary payloads

Glavkosmos said 12 small spacecraft flew alongside the main satellites. Eleven were launched under contracts with private companies, but the full list has not been disclosed.

Military-linked question

The Insider, citing international launch databases, reported that two of the small satellites may belong to NPO Kaysant, a developer of communications equipment for drones. The databases list one craft as a 6U CubeSat with a Germes satellite modem and another as a 16U CubeSat with Gonets equipment. The report links the company to a military unit, but that link is not confirmed in the reporting, and Roscosmos has not published a complete manifest that would settle the question.

Subsidy programme

The launch is the first under the national Space project to subsidise private satellite flights, according to Roscosmos. No cost figures for the subsidy were given in the available reporting.