Russia's Rokot Rockets With Ukraine-Made Components To Be Decommissioned In 2019 - Source

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th December, 2018) The last launches of the Rokot carrier rocket fitted with a Ukrainian-made control system will be carried out in 2019, then the vehicle will be decommissioned, a source in the space industry told Sputnik on Tuesday.

"In 2019, it is planned to carry out two launches of Rokot [launch vehicle] with Briz-KM upper stages from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, after which the rocket will be decommissioned," the source said.

In the first launch scheduled for June-July, Rokot will bring three Gonets-M communication satellites to the orbit, according to the source.

Then a Geo-IK geodesy satellite will be delivered to the orbit, he said, adding that the Geo-IK might yet be brought to the orbit before the Gonets-M satellites.

In August, Russia's space agency Roscosmos announced that the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center was developing Rokot-2 carrier rocket with a Russian-made control system. The current model of Rokot carrier rocket is using a Ukrainian-made control system.