Ukrainian Earth remote sensing satellite Sich-2-1 was inserted into design orbit during the Falcon 9 rideshare launch on January 13, 2022 at 18:51:58 Kiev time.

Following the separation from the rocket, the communication was established with the spacecraft and telemetry data, confirming the onboard equipment operability, was received.

Number of external factors intrinsic to rideshare launches prevented from establishment of the steady communication with the spacecraft during the critically important first communication sessions and nominal attitude was not timely built. The current attitude only allows the solar array surface to trap the solar rays reflected from the Earth surface or short-term sun beaming at a very small angle. Combination of these factors resulted in negative influence on the satellite’s energy balance.

Engineering solutions and algorithms built into the spacecraft in the phases of design and development enabled Sich-2-1 to autonomously reload and restore the functionality in energy saving mode.

According to the results of the following communication sessions, no failures of the onboard equipment were detected.

Simulation of the spacecraft orbital dynamics with account of external factors (interaction of the spacecraft with Earth’s magnetic field, gravitational and aerodynamic interactions) indicate that during 1-2 months the attitude position will become favourable to accumulate the electric power, which will enable bringing the attitude to the nominal one.

For the present specialists from the National Center for Control and Test of Space Facilities together with Yuzhnoye SDO specialists provide communications with the spacecraft and analyze the telemetry data, getting ready to proceed with the flight tests.