The military satellite Cosmos 2555, launched on April 29 with the Angara-1.2 launch vehicle, could burn up in the atmosphere as early as June. Information about this appeared in the Telegram channel Alpha Centauri Cosmos.
Vitaly Egorov, an expert and promoter of astronautics, told The Insider that if there is no serious start to the engine, the satellite will cease to exist by mid-June. In 15 days, the satellite has made only one short-term correction of its orbit – on May 6. Since then, its orbit has been declining. Egorov notes that the data on the position of the Cosmos 2555 satellite (as well as on any other) is available to anyone, as it is monitored by the US military system NORAD. “Scientists have already plotted the movement from the launch to the present day. It can be seen that in about 10-12 days it has lost 30 km of altitude and from an average height of about 290 km has descended to a height of 260 km, which at such altitudes is quite a significant loss. And indeed, if this continues for another 2-3 weeks, then the satellite will inevitably enter the dense layers of the atmosphere and descend into orbit. The graph shows that there have been several attempts to change the orbit. There may have been 3 or 4 engine starts, but they were very weak and did not significantly affect the orbit. Therefore, in the near future, if there is no major engine start and orbit change, then probably by mid-June, the satellite will cease to exist. Maybe even earlier, “Egorov said. On April 29, Interfax reported, citing the Ministry of Defense, that a light Angara-1.2 launch vehicle had been launched from the Plesetsk spaceport in the Arkhangelsk region.
