Russia has lost an advanced military ocean surveillance satellite launched on Saturday, TASS news agency reported Monday.
The Kanopus-ST satellite was one of the two military-purpose spacecrafts launched by the Soyuz-2.1B rocket from Russia's Plesetsk cosmodrome.
The satellite failed to separate from the rocket due to a technical malfunction, the source said.
It is expected to burn up upon re-entering the Earth's atmosphere on Tuesday, TASS reported, citing North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and Russian aerospace industry sources.
Kanopus-ST was a dual-purpose satellite designed to scan Earth's oceans in both optical and UHF ranges. It was under construction for 10 years and considered a highly advanced spacecraft, the Kommersant newspaper reported Monday.
Civilian scientists could have used it as a meteorological and a hydrological instrument. It could scan the sea and spot submarines along with other objects for the military, according to Kommersant.
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