Kondor,

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

14F133, is a series of Earth imaging or military

reconnaissance satellite A reconnaissance satellite or intelligence satellite (commonly, although unofficially, referred to as a spy satellite) is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications. The ...

s developed by

NPO Mashinostroyeniya NPO Mashinostroyeniya () is a rocket design bureau based in Reutov, Russia. During the Cold War it was responsible for several major weapons systems, including the UR-100N Intercontinental ballistic missile and the military Almaz space station ...

for the

Russian Aerospace Defence Forces The Russian Aerospace Defence Forces (VVKO) () was a branch of the Russian Armed Forces responsible for aerospace defence, operation of Russian military satellites and the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. It was established on 1 December 2011 and dissolved ...

which in 2015 became the Russian Space Forces and export customers. Satellites for the Russian military are designated "Kondor", whilst those for export are designated Kondor-E. Kondor satellites are equipped to carry either

synthetic aperture radar Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) is a form of radar that is used to create two-dimensional images or 3D reconstruction, three-dimensional reconstructions of objects, such as landscapes. SAR uses the motion of the radar antenna over a target regi ...

or electro-optical imaging payloads, with the first satellite, and are launched using the

Strela Strela (, ''arrow'') may refer to: Russian/Soviet technology Anti-aircraft missiles * 9K31 Strela-1, a.k.a. SA-9 Gaskin * 9K32 Strela-2, a.k.a. SA-7 Grail * 9K34 Strela-3, a.k.a. SA-14 Gremlin * 9K35 Strela-10, a.k.a. SA-13 Gopher Other * Strela ...

carrier rocket, developed by NPO Mashinostroyeniya from retired

UR-100 The UR-100 () was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed and deployed by the Soviet Union from 1966 to 1996. UR () in its designation stood for Universal Rocket (). It was known during the Cold War by the NATO reporting name SS- ...

NUTTKh missiles. A mass simulator named Gruzomaket (aka Kondor-E-GVM, COSPAR 2003-055A ) was launched on 5 December 2003, and almost ten years later, on 27 June 2013, the first spacecraft was launched. Kondor No.202 (aka Kosmos 2487, Kondor 1, COSPAR 2013-032A) was operated by the

Russian military The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. They are organized into three service branches—the Ground Forces, Navy, and Aerospace Forces—two independent comba ...

, and carried a radar imaging payload. It was the first radar imaging satellite to be operated by the Russian military after the Soviet RORSAT and

Almaz The Almaz () program was a highly secret Soviet Union, Soviet military space station program, begun in the early 1960s. Three crewed military reconnaissance stations were launched between 1973 and 1976: Salyut 2, Salyut 3 and Salyut 5. To co ...

-T series. The first Kondor-E (Kondor-E 1, COSPAR 2014-084A) launched 19 December 2014 for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Civilian versions of the satellite have been designed under the name Kondor-FKA or Kondor-FKA-M. The launch of the first Kondor-FKA satellite took place on 26 May 2023 from the

Vostochny Cosmodrome The Vostochny Cosmodrome () is a Russian space launch facility in the Amur Oblast, located above the 51st parallel north in the Russian Far East. It was built to help reduce Russia’s reliance on the Baikonur Cosmodrome which is located on lan ...

, while the launch of the second took place on 30 November 2024 from the

Baikonur Cosmodrome The Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport operated by Russia within Kazakhstan. Located in the Kazakh city of Baikonur, it is the largest operational space launch facility in terms of area. All Russian Human spaceflight, crewed spaceflights are l ...

References

Reconnaissance satellites of Russia Space synthetic aperture radar NPO Mashinostroyeniya products {{Russia-spacecraft-stub