On July 9, 2019, the Proton-M launch vehicle with the Russian Spektr-RG observatory was delivered to the launch complex of site 81 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome and installed on the launcher. After the service tower was brought up and communications connected, the specialists of the Roscosmos enterprises began work according to the schedule of the first launch day. Earlier, in the assembly and testing building, all the comments identified during the preparation for the launch in June 2019 were eliminated.
The launch of the Proton-M launch vehicle with the DM-03 upper stage and the new Spektr-RG orbital observatory is scheduled for July 12, 2019 at 15:31 Moscow time.
Spektr-RG is a Russian project with German participation aimed at creating an orbital astrophysical observatory designed to study the Universe in the X-ray wavelength range. It involves the creation of a national observatory for high-energy astrophysics, continuing the succession of Astron and Granat astrophysical satellites, also developed at NPO Lavochkin. The apparatus is built on a modular principle, has good orientation and stabilization characteristics, and allows observing almost the entire celestial sphere during the year.
The Spektr-RG spacecraft will be launched into the vicinity of the Lagrange point L2 of the Sun-Earth system. Astrophysical research is planned for 6.5 years, of which 4 years – in the mode of scanning the starry sky, and 2.5 years – in the mode of point observation of objects in the Universe at the request of the world scientific community.
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