Starsem demonstrated the flight profile for launches of two pairs of Cluster satellites in June and July, using a dummy satellite on a Starsem Soyuz Fregat booster from Baikonur on 20 March .
The Fregat upper stage's first firing placed the Dumsat payload into initial low Earth orbit. The Fregat was re-ignited to demonstrate the techniques and dynamics of the Cluster deployment missions into highly elliptical Earth orbit on 15 June and 13 July. As planned, the Dumsat payload did not separate during an electronically simulated deployment.
Starsem is a joint venture between the Russian Space and Aviation Agency, Russia's Samara Space Centre and Europe's Arianespace and Aerospatiale Matra.
Source: Flight International
