First Yakut Satellite Orbits Earth, Flies Over Antarctica

The first Yakut satellite «Cholbon» has been successfully launched into orbit. The spacecraft is now orbiting Earth at an altitude of about 510 kilometers (approximately 1.67 million feet) and passing approximately over Antarctica. This was reported on January 28 in the Telegram channel of the republic«s Ministry of Education.

The satellite is operating normally, and communication is constantly maintained with it: it is equipped with microcontrollers and sensors of its own design. The project was developed as part of the space program of the Minor Academy of Sciences of Yakutia with the help of the company «ALROSA» and the Target Fund for Future Generations. Schoolchildren also actively participated in the work.

«Once this was someone»s dream, an idea that a person purposefully pursued. And today, thanks to the participation of scientists, teachers, students, and dreamer-schoolchildren, this dream has come true,« are the words of Education Minister Nyurguna Sokolova.

The department emphasized that the satellite «Cholbon» is ready to become a tool for educational programs and applied scientific research for young scientists of Yakutia.

The satellite was sent into space on December 28 from the «Vostochny» Cosmodrome in Amur Oblast. The launch was timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Yakut Complex Expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The satellite«s signals can be received by radio amateurs around the world. The »Cholbon« was launched into orbit by the »Soyuz-2.1b« carrier rocket.