A Proton M/Breeez-M rocket successfully launched the Luch 5X satellite, also known as the Olymp K-2 spacecraft, at 2312 GMT on 12 March 2023, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Via a parking orbit, the satellite was placed into a GTO – geosynchronous transfer orbit from where it will use its own propulsion to circularise itself and remove inclination to achieve its geostationary final destination. While ostensibly a data relay/communications satellite for Russia, its Olymp-K predecessor was noted has moving around the geostationary arc investigating the signals of many of the communications satellites it came to. It is thus thought that this satellite will have the same signals intelligence function. Built by ISS Reshetnev, the Olymp-K satellites use a special version of the Express-2000 bus design.
Russian Aerospace Forces
