American experts confirmed the fall of the Russian apparatus
The Perseus upper stage entered the Earth’s atmosphere at 23.08 Moscow time on January 5. It happened over the Pacific Ocean, – said the 18th US Air Force Space Squadron, which tracks all artificial objects in low-earth orbit.
The Perseus upper stage, which made its first flight, failed to reach the planned orbit.
The forecast given by the American specialists at 18.50 on January 5 was almost confirmed. True, the device entered the atmosphere almost an hour earlier than the time they had calculated.
As reported, the test launch of the new Perseus Upper Stage (RB) was carried out on December 27 from the Plesetsk cosmodrome. The heavy launch vehicle “Angara-A5” fired normally. Further, the RB was supposed to display the overall mass non-detachable payload mockup on its own. 2,400 tons should have been “thrown” to an altitude of 35,800 km, making three starts of the engines. But after the first activation of the propulsion system, the upper stage “died” and remained in low orbit.
It is not yet clear whether all 20 tons entered the Earth’s atmosphere or is it part of the structure. The fact is that, according to American tracking services, shortly after the separation of the “Perseus” (object 50505), three more parts were separated from it (objects 50569, 50570, 50571). In addition, it is not known how much fuel remained in the RB tanks at the time of entry into the atmosphere.
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