Russia Launches, Loses, Finds Military Satellite

eldavojohn writes "According to Interfax reports, a GEO-IK-2 spacecraft launched yesterday from Plesetsk went missing hours after launch. Its intended purpose is to measure specific curvature of the Earth to aid Russia's military in building excellent 3D maps. Early today, Russia announced that they found it, but unfortunately it's in the wrong orbit. China's state media called the launch 'successful.' Reuters reminds us of a GLONASS mishap, which resulted in Medvedev firing two top space officials."

Re:Measurements

[msauve]

Russia never used imperial units ("imperial" normally meaning customary British imperial), and the traditional Russian units (arshins, etc.) haven't been used for a long time. The Soviets went metric in 1924.