Kosmos 2441 (russian: Космос 2441 meaning ''Cosmos 2441''), also known as Persona No.1, was a Russian optical

reconnaissance satellite A reconnaissance satellite or intelligence satellite (commonly, although unofficially, referred to as a spy satellite) is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications. The ...

launched in 2008. The first Persona satellite, it failed a few months into its mission, which was scheduled to have lasted three to five years. It was the first Russian reconnaissance satellite to be placed into a

sun-synchronous orbit A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), also called a heliosynchronous orbit, is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local mean solar time. More technically, it is ...

. Kosmos 2441 was launched by a

Soyuz-2-1b Soyuz-2 (GRAU index 14A14) is a modernized version of the Soviet Soyuz rocket. In its basic form, it is a three-stage launch vehicle for placing payloads into low Earth orbit. Compared to the previous versions of the Soyuz, the first-stage bo ...

carrier rocket flying from Site 43/4 of the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. The launch took place at 18:31:36 UTC on 26 July 2008, and marked the first Soyuz-2-1b launch from Plesetsk. Following its successful deployment the satellite was given its Kosmos designation, and was assigned the International Designator 2008-037A and Satellite Catalog Number 33272. In February 2009, it was reported that Kosmos 2441 had failed shortly after launch. The date of the failure was not announced, however the satellite was last seen to manoeuvre in September 2008. The cause of the failure was reported to be an electrical problem, possibly caused by higher radiation levels encountered by the satellite in sun-synchronous orbit compared to previous satellites in lower-inclination orbits. The next Persona satellite was not launched until 2013, when it was placed into orbit as Kosmos 2486.

References

{{Orbital launches in 2008 Spacecraft launched in 2008 Reconnaissance satellites of Russia Spacecraft launched by Soyuz-2 rockets