Russia lost a military satellite Tuesday shortly after its launch when it failed to reach a proper orbit, news agencies quoted military sources as saying.
The Geo-IK-2 satellite was designed to help the military survey land and create a highly-detailed map of the Earth's surface.
Designed to orbit the Earth in a circular orbit, it was put in an elliptical one instead, news reports said.
"We have still not been able to establish contact with the craft, and it looks like most likely, it will be declared lost," a Russian space source told the Interax-AVN news service.
The incident comes a month after President Dmitry Medvedev fired two top space officials for a similar setback and delivered another humiliating blow to Russia's space industry.
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