BelKA

BelKA (an acronym from Belarusian language: Belarusian Cosmic Apparatus) is the first satellite of indepdent Belarus.

It is a remote sensing satellite that utilizes the Victoria universal satellite bus, developed by Belarusian reseachers and Russian Rocket and Space Corporation Energiya for National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Belarus as the final customer of the satellite. The launch is scheduled for December 5, 2005. It will have the capacity to take photos of the Earth surface, with a maximum resolution of 2-2.5 meters.

The name BelKA is an allusion to Russian space dogs, namely Belka which together with Strelka orbited the Earth and returned safely on Sputnik 2 in 1960.

• Satellite: BelKa 1, LS TB LC-109/95
• Nation: Belarus
• Type / Application: Earth Observation
• Operator: National Academy of Sciences of Republic of Belarus
• Contractors: Russian RKA Energiya
• Configuration: Victoria bus
• Launcher: Dnepr-1 (also with Baumanets 1, AlMaSat 1)
• Launch: scheduled on December 5, 2005, from the Russian space launch facility Plesetsk Cosmodrome.
• Lifetime: at least 5 years
• Mass: ~250 kg
• Orbit: Low Earth Orbit, at 510 km altitude