On November 21, 2013 at 9:10 Kiev time, the Dnepr rocket, carrying into the near-earth orbit the United Arab Emirates’ DubaiSat-2, 22 nanosatellites of various countries, and the Advanced Avionics Unit, was successfully lifted off form Yasny Launch Base, Orenburg region.

The spacecraft were placed into the target orbit.

The Dnepr rocket is a converted intercontinental ballistic missile RS-20 (15А18, Voyevoda) designed by Yuzhnoye SDO and manufactured by Yuzhmash PA in cooperation with Ukrainian and Russian enterprises. Instead of a warhead, a newly-developed space head module with satellites is installed on the rockets removed from the standby alert in compliance with the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty.

The primary payload for this launch is the United Arab Emirates’ DubaiSat-2 designed by the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (ЕІАSТ). The satellite weighs 297 kg. The DubaiSat-2 is an Earth observation satellite equipped with electro-optical instrumentation with a 1-meter ground sampling distance for panchromatic imagery and 4-meter ground sampling distance in a multispectral band. The satellite was put into a sun synchronous orbit at an altitude of 600 km. A design operational lifespan of the satellite is five years.

The SТSАТ-3 (Korea), SkySАТ-1 (U.S.), UniSаt-5 (Italia), АРRІZЕSАТ-7, АРRІZЕSАТ -8 (U.S.), nine launch adapters ISIPOD with 14 CubeSat (Norway, the Netherlands, Singapore, Germany, South Africa, Ecuador, Argentina, Korea, Spain, U.S.), WNISat (Japan), BRITE-PL (Poland), GОМХ-1 (Denmark) were also put into orbit. They are scientific, civil, educational, and communication satellites with their primary objectives to conduct astronomical observations, transmit Earth’s imagery, measure a polarization of gamma-ray photons, test the equipment in space, gain some experience, and to monitor the Arctic waters.

The Advanced Avionics Unit is a Ukrainian experimental avionics designed to be used in the spacecraft and launch vehicle navigation system.

It was the nineteenth flight of a converted Dnepr rocket. As of today, the Dnepr has placed into the near-earth orbits 86 spacecraft for 25 countries.

Yuzhnoye Public Relations Center