Launching the «Sich-2-30» satellite, Ukraine returned to space, but this not a triumph: we will still buy pictures from Israel and China.
On January 13 at 17:26 Kyiv time, from the US Space Force base at Cape Canaveral, the Elon Musk SpaceX rocket delivered more than a hundred satellites into orbit, among which was the Ukrainian satellite «Sich-2-30». At 20.15 he flew over the territory of Ukraine and established contact with the Earth. So our country returned to space again, reports the Chronicle.info with reference to Focus.
Andrey Kolesnik, former adviser to the head of the State space agency, and now an independent expert on space activities.
Ukrainian satellite «Sich-2-30»: a long way to the top
Sputnik «Sich-2-30» previously bore the name «Sich-2-1». They renamed it because they planned to launch it in 2021, the year of the 30th anniversary of Ukraine's independence, but the launch was postponed to the beginning of 2022.
The predecessor of this satellite is «Sich-2» — was built in 2011. Its launch was successful, but instead of the planned five years of operation in orbit, the device functioned for only 16 months. As Andrei Kolesnik explains, the problem was in low-quality parts. It was planned that while «Sich-2» would operate in orbit, engineers would create a new satellite, called «Sich-2-M» — a draft scientific and technical space program for 2013-2017.
In total, about 250 mln hryvnia, of which 110 mln hryvnia was invested by KB «Yuzhnoye»
«But in 2013 «Sich-2» failed, and the creation of the satellite «Sich-2-M» froze due to lack of funding. Space programs have always been funded in the amount of about 35% of the plan approved by the Rada,” says Kolesnik. According to him, in 2018, work on «Sich-2-M» turned off. By that time, the satellite was 86% ready, almost UAH 140 million was invested in the creation of the satellite itself and another UAH 110 million in optics for it.
Then at the Design Bureau «Yuzhnoye» decided to upgrade «doubler» «Sich-2». The satellite was created in two copies — the twin remained on Earth to work out different scenarios that can happen in space.
«It is on the basis of this «understudy» KB «Southern» at its own expense — almost UAH 110 million — decided to upgrade: replace unreliable elements of the payload and service systems of the satellite, and thus quickly prepare it for launch. This variant was named «Sich-2-1″, the expert continues. — I had to solve the issue of finding the necessary parts for acquisition, because before they used Russian spare parts. As a result, most of the parts were assembled in Ukraine from the available materials, while refining them in parallel, and some were purchased in European countries».
It was planned that this satellite would be sent into space in 2017 from the Brazilian cosmodrome «Alcantara», but in 2015 Brazil refused to participate in the project. Only at the beginning of 2021 did negotiations begin with SpaceX. President Volodymyr Zelensky promised that Ukraine would return to space by Independence Day, so «Sich-2-1» received a new name «Sich-2-30». However, the launch date was first postponed to December 2021, and then to January 10, 2022. In the new year, Elon Musk's company has already postponed the launch of the «Transponder-3» from «Sich-2-30» for another three days — on January 13.
Why the satellite «Sich-2-30» outdated already at the start
According to Andrey Kolesnik, «Sich-2-30» originally created for other parameters of the launch vehicle, so I had to spend time and money to adapt the satellite to the Falcon-9.
«In total, at «Sich-2-30» about UAH 250 million was spent, of which UAH 110 million was invested by KB «Yuzhnoye». UAH 140 million was transferred from the Brazilian space project «Cyclone-4″, which was not realized. These are not budgetary, but credit funds that were taken under state guarantees. SpaceX services cost UAH 54 million, the rest of the money after the satellite was assembled went to purchase equipment for the ground control panel,” Kolesnik explains. He says that for 30 years of independence, Ukraine has put into orbit six satellites, «Sich-2-30» became the seventh and only functioning. Previously, satellites were controlled from Evpatoria, now the control panel is located in the Khmelnytsky region.
The main function «Sich-2-30» – monitoring the state of water bodies, forests, urban planning and tracking natural disasters. The satellite will also serve to solve the problems of the country's defense. However, even if it has its own device in orbit, Ukraine will not be able to save on the purchase of satellite images in other countries. The fact is that each satellite has an individual spatial resolution — this value characterizes the size of the smallest objects visible in the image. The higher it is, the better and more detailed the image. «Sich-2-30» performs an overview function, since it has a resolution of 7 m, most modern satellites are many times greater than it.
«Annually, UAH 35 million is allocated within the state budget for the purchase of satellite images, and all this budget is spent. Satellite «Sich-2-30″ can serve for general observation, for example, to determine whether any military buildings have appeared on the border, but more detailed pictures will still have to be bought in other countries», Kolesnik says.
Today, Ukraine buys pictures from Israel and China. The Israeli satellite can transmit images with a resolution of up to 70 cm, Chinese — up to 50 cm. Ukraine buys not only images, but also the resources of the Chinese satellite: it can order the exact time and shooting point.
How good is the satellite «Sich-2-30» was prepared for work, it will become known after Ukraine receives the first image from space. According to Kolesnik, it takes several months on average to adapt a satellite to work in orbit.
«You can hope for the best, but you should prepare for the worst, because the basis of this satellite was developed back in the early 2000s s, then it was constantly upgraded to new space concepts,” the expert notes. — The satellite has a hybrid composition of acquisition parts, the transition from analog to digital equipment did not take place completely, therefore «Sich-2-30» cannot be considered modern, it is a device of the previous generation«.
While Ukraine is waiting for the first images from the satellite «Sich-2-30», in KB « Southern» gathering dust «Sich-2-M», capable of taking images with a spatial resolution of 2 m. According to Kolesnik, instead of finalizing the satellite of the previous generation, it would be better to finance the completion of the construction of a more modern device. However, «Sich-2-M» may also be in orbit, because the State Space Agency announced that by 2025 Ukraine plans to launch seven more satellites.