space
21:20, 30-Dec-2017
Russia restores contact with Angolan satellite
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Russian specialists say they have restored communication with a satellite launched for Angola, days after losing contact.
"Specialists of Energia rocket and space corporation have received telemetry information from Angosat," Energia said in a statement on Friday. "All parameters of the spacecraft systems are normal."
Energia is the maker of the satellite which Russia launched from its Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Tuesday evening.
It stopped receiving telemetry from the Angosat-1 shortly afterwards.
File: Russian Soyuz 2.1b rocket carrying the Meteor M satellite and additional 18 small satellites lifts off from the launch pad at the new Vostochny cosmodrome, Russia, on November 28, 2017. /AP Photo
File: Russian Soyuz 2.1b rocket carrying the Meteor M satellite and additional 18 small satellites lifts off from the launch pad at the new Vostochny cosmodrome, Russia, on November 28, 2017. /AP Photo
The incident was a new embarrassment for the country's once proud space industry. In November, Russia lost contact with a weather satellite after it was launched from a new cosmodrome in the country's far east.
The Angosat project was agreed by Russia and Angola in 2009 and includes the satellite, its launch, and on-ground infrastructure in a suburb of the capital Luanda.
The 280-million-US-dollar project has been financed with a credit from Russia's state banks.
The satellite is designed for a 15-year mission to boost satellite communications, Internet access, radio and TV service.
1618km
Source(s): AFP