Kosmos 2480 (russian: Космос 2480 meaning ''Cosmos 2480'') is a Russian Kobalt-M reconnaissance satellite which was launched in 2012 by the

Russian Aerospace Defence Forces The Russian Aerospace Defence Forces (VVKO) ( rus, Войска воздушно-космической обороны (ВВКО), Voyska vozdushno-kosmicheskoy oborony (VVKO)) was a branch of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation respons ...

. It was the last launch of a

Soyuz-U The Soyuz-U launch vehicle was an improved version of the original Soyuz rocket. Soyuz-U was part of the R-7 family of rockets based on the R-7 Semyorka missile. Members of this rocket family were designed by the TsSKB design bureau and cons ...

rocket launched from Plesetsk Cosmodrome. Kosmos 2480 was launched from Site 16/2 at

Plesetsk Cosmodrome Plesetsk Cosmodrome ( rus, Космодром «Плесецк», r=Kosmodrom "Plesetsk", p=kəsmɐˈdrom plʲɪˈsʲet͡sk) is a Russian spaceport located in Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast, about 800 km north of Moscow and approximately 200 ...

. The last

carrier rocket launched from Plesetsk Cosmodrome was used to perform the launch, which took place at 18:05 UTC on 17 May 2012. The launch successfully placed the satellite into

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

. It subsequently received its Kosmos designation, and the

international designator The International Designator, also known as COSPAR ID, is an international identifier assigned to artificial objects in space. It consists of the launch year, a three-digit incrementing launch number of that year and up to a three-letter code repr ...

2012-024A. The

United States Space Command United States Space Command (USSPACECOM or SPACECOM) is a unified combatant command of the United States Department of Defense, responsible for military operations in outer space, specifically all operations 100 kilometers (62 miles) and grea ...

assigned it the

Satellite Catalog Number The Satellite Catalog Number (SATCAT, also known as NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense) Catalog Number, NORAD ID, USSPACECOM object number or simply catalog number, among similar variants) is a sequential nine-digit number assigned by the Un ...

38335.

Kobalt-M

Kobalt-M satellites are a type of Yantar satellite, Yantar-4K2M. They have the

GRAU index The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (), commonly referred to by its transliterated Russian acronym GRAU (), is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the ...

11F695M. They are optical reconnaissance satellites which use film. The satellite sends two film capsules to earth and returns to earth itself at the end of its mission. This has the disadvantage that the satellite's life is dependent on how much film it can carry, and information from the satellite is not obtained until the film canister has returned to earth and been developed. The satellite returned to Earth on 24 September 2012. The previous satellite of this class, Kosmos 2472, was launched on 27 June 2011 and returned to Earth on 24 October 2011.

External links

Photo set from the launch from Novosti Kosmonavtiki

References

{{Orbital launches in 2012 Spacecraft launched in 2012 Spacecraft launched by Soyuz-U rockets Kosmos satellites Yantar (satellite) Spacecraft which reentered in 2012

Kobalt-M

See also

External links

References