Object 4, one of 16 satellites in the first operational batch of Russia's Rassvet broadband network, re-entered Earth's atmosphere on approximately June 6th, according to orbital tracking compiled by space journalist Anatoly Zak at RussianSpaceWeb. The spacecraft launched on March 23rd from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome and is reportedly the only member of the batch that wasn’t able to perform a single orbit-raising maneuver, instead decaying out of a roughly 288km x 324km insertion orbit while six of its companions slowly climb and eight hold altitude.
Each Rassvet-3 satellite weighs about 370 kilos (816 pounds) and was released into a near-polar orbit inclined 82.3 degrees to the equator. For the first two weeks, none of the batch showed any propulsion activity, raising the prospect that the whole group had a problem. Object 16 (NORAD ID 68375) was the first to climb, on April 6th, with others following over the next several days. Object 4 (NORAD ID 68363) stayed flat throughout, losing altitude at the natural rate until re-entry became unavoidable. The cause of this is unconfirmed, but a dead propulsion system and a complete loss of ground control would both produce the same outcome.
