SpaceX will launch Ukraine’s fourth satellite into orbit – and first in over a decade – when the Transporter-3 mission blasts off on a Falcon 9 rocket on Jan. 13 at 15:25 UTC (17:25 EET).
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Ukrainian technology is about to skirt the stars as Ukraine’s Sich-2-30 satellite is set for launch on SpaceX’s second flight of 2022.
The satellite will collect digital images of the Earth’s surface from 500 km above the planet and can also monitor the Earth’s ionosphere. The information will allow the Ukrainian government to survey things as varied as illegal logging, river pollution, or even movements along the contact line in Eastern Ukraine.
SpaceX’s Transporter 3 mission is a specialised rideshare mission that will see the company launch satellites for several different companies, universities, or governments.
This will be Ukraine’s fourth satellite launched into space – but its first on an American rocket.
“It’s the first satellite launch in Ukraine in over 10 years“
Dnipro Space Cluster CEO Yevhen Rokicky told the Kyiv Post.
“What does it mean for Ukraine? The launch of Sich-2-30 means Ukraine is trying to regain its niche in the rapidly developing global space market.”
The Falcon 9 is among the world’s most reliable and inexpensive options. The Falcon 9 has successfully launched 79 times before, with zero failures.
Ukraine will be paying $1.9 million USD to launch the approximately 180 kg satellite, for a rate of about $10,000 USD per kilogram.
“If Russia was not at war with Ukraine, it would have cost significantly less”, said Rokicky, before adding, “It would have been 1.5 times more expensive [than the SpaceX price] to use a Russian launcher from the European spaceport [in French Guiana].”
Six more by 2025
It’s a significant step forward for Ukraine’s space industry, which has had to retool since making the break from the Russian space programme.
The Sich-2-30 satellite, for example, was developed for use with Soviet systems and had to be reworked to work with SpaceX’s Falcon 9.
“The satellite is hardly innovative … While it was designed well over a decade ago, the engineers managed to modernise some of its systems, including command, control, and communication”, Rokicky told the Kyiv Post.
“The state-owned and private companies demonstrated their capabilities to integrate and test satellites.”
Part of the design was done in Lviv, with work also coming from partners in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Ukraine’s “Space City” – Dnipro.
“One of our partners has been working [for years] on the new deployer”, said Rokitsky. “It’s an innovative deployer – an innovative design”.
Ukraine has also had to replace infrastructure that currently sits in the temporarily occupied Crimea.
“Ukraine had to build new infrastructure from scratch”, said Rokitsky, “Including a new flight control centre in Khmelnytskyi and new capacity in Kyiv as a reserve.”
The government views the sector as one of Ukraine’s most promising. The Verkhovna Rada even amended the law in 2019 to allow foreign enterprises to collaborate and compete for contracts.
Currently, six additional satellite launches are planned by 2025, although the government has yet to officially commit to the timeline.
“It’s just a blueprint – not an approved programme”, said Rokicky. “The programme should be adopted this year, but maybe not in its current format”.
Brilliant space heritage
Even during Soviet times, Ukraine was known for its rich space heritage.
Several Ukrainian engineers were the drivers behind the Soviet rocket programme, including “Th3 Father of the Soviet Space Programme” Serhiy Korolyev, who has a Cosmonautics Museum named after him in his hometown of Zhytomyr.
16 Ukrainians flew into space during the Soviet times, but only one has made the trip back since Ukraine regained its independence 30 years ago – Leonid Kadeniuk in 1997.
Ukraine’s first satellite was launched in 1995, with subsequent launches in 2004 and 2011.
Seven launches in four years would be unprecedented and spur significant growth in Ukraine’s space sector.
To facilitate the expected growth, six of Ukraine’s ‘Space Clusters’ will meet next week in Odesa with Volodomyr Tartay, Head of Ukraine’s State Space Agency, to discus ways to synergise.
The meeting comes just one month after Ukraine’s Pivdenmash signed a contract with NASA to build two additional first stages of Ukraine’s Antares rocket.
“Now the wait is over – [NASA] has decided on the configuration of the launch vehicle, allowing the contract to be concluded”, said Tartay.
“Moreover, additional confirmation is expected from NASA, which will allow us to produce several more [first stages].”
Ukraine has also signed onto NASA’s Artemis Accords, allowing the country the possibility of future cooperation on Moon and Mars missions.
