The Russian Kosmos-2222 missile early warning satellite went out of orbit and burnt down in the atmosphere.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) reported on this.

Satellite 73D6-6051 of the Russian Space Force Oko program codenamed Kosmos-2222, entered the atmosphere south of New Zealand at 03:58 am local time after 30 years in space.

As of now, the satellite has completely burned down in the dense layers of the atmosphere. It operated between 1992 and 1995 and stayed in orbit as space debris after its mission was completed.

Kosmos-2222

Kosmos-2222 is a Russian satellite of the 73D6 series, which was part of the Oko missile defence early warning programme, which operated between 1982 and 2019. The weight of satellites of this type is reported to be 1250 kg.

Satellites of the Oko program were launched with the Molniya-M rocket from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome into highly elliptical orbit. Spacecraft with orbits of this type can stay in space for tens of years. A total of 86 spacecraft of this type were launched, with the last launch carried out on September 30, 2010.

Satellites of this type were created to identify intercontinental ballistic missile launches using optical telescopes and infrared sensors. The information obtained due to their work should have given a head start to Russian strategic forces to intercept enemy missiles and counterattack.

At the end of April, the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences reported on the satellite’s position tracking. According to the institute, the weight of the device was 1.9 tons.

Currently, to replace this early warning satellite, Russia is putting a new Kupol early warning satellite into operation.