Space exploration in 2016

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For missions in 2015 click here

PLANNED RUSSIAN SPACE MISSIONS IN 2016

Plans for Russian-European Mars mission spark controversy in Moscow

2016 January: A Proton rocket with a Block D upper stage to launch the Trace Gas Orbiter for the ExoMars project from Baikonur.

2016: Russia to launch the Bion-M No. 3 scientific satellite.

2016: Russia to launch the Resurs-PM No. 2 remote-sensing satellite. (As of 2009 388)

Last quarter of 2016: The Soyuz-2 (ST) rocket to launch the Metop-C meteorological satellite for EUMETSAT from the Soyuz launch facility in Kourou, French Guiana. (The mission was announced on Sept. 10, 2010.) Built by Astrium, the Metop-C satellite will weigh 4,250 kg at launch. It will be fitted with a dozen instruments designed to take atmospheric measurements (pressure, humidity, temperature, ozone concentration, etc.) at different altitudes, and to map temperatures and wind fields on the ocean surface.

2016: Soyuz-2-1b/Fregat-SB rocket to launch the Arkon-2M No. 1 and No. 2 remote-sensing satellites for all-weather radar observations of the Earth surface from a 550-600-kilometer Sun-synchronous orbit. (As of 2011. The launch was originally promised in 2009 (299) and later in 2012-2013. )

2015-2016: A Zenit-2SB rocket to launch the Gamma-400 astrophysics satellite into a highly elliptical 300,000 by 500-kilometer orbit with an inclination 51.8 degrees toward the Equator. (As of 2008, the launch was expected as early as 2013, 299) The spacecraft was to be equipped with detectors capable of registering very high-energy gamma radiation from space which does not penetrate Earth's atmosphere. Gamma ray research helps in understanding of such astrophysical phenomena as solar flares and dark matter. Gamma-400 was designed to complement and expand the sensitivity and resolution of previous space-based gamma observatories such as Compton GRO, Fermi GLAST and AGILE. By a Russian government decree No. 1036-53 from Dec. 28, 2008, a preliminary design for the Gamma-400 project was included into the Russian space program during 2006-2015 with a projected completion in August 2010. At the time, the launch date was expected in 2015. The spacecraft would be based on the Navigator platform and have a lifetime of five-seven years. It would take the spacecraft seven days to complete a single orbit and the altitude would ensure its stable flight during no less than 10 years. Lebedev Physics Institute was appointed as a prime contractor. By 2011, NPO Lavochkin completed a preliminary design of the spacecraft. At the time, the launch was expected in 2015-2016.

2016-2020: Russia to launch the first of three Vozvrat-MKA retrievable capsule spacecraft for an up-to-year-long mission to study effects of microgravity and radiation on biological specimens. (As of 2011)

For missions in 2017 click here

This page is compiled by Anatoly Zak

Last update: December 15, 2011

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Arkon-2M

The design of the Arkon-2M spacecraft originally proposed by NPO Lavochkin.