Meridian 2
Meridian 2 (), also known as Meridian No.12L, was a Russian communications satellite. It was the second satellite of the Meridian system, which replaced the older Molniya series. It followed on from Meridian 1, which was launched in December 2006.

Meridian 2 was launched on a Soyuz-2.1a rocket with a Fregat upper stage, from Site 43/4 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. The launch occurred on 21 May 2009, at 21:53 GMT. While the launch was officially announced as successful, the satellite was placed in a significantly lower orbit than expected, and it was later reported that the upper stage of the Soyuz carrier rocket had shut down five seconds early, and an attempt to compensate for the low orbit resulted in the Fregat running out of fuel during its second burn. Following launch, it was reported to have been given a Kosmos designation; however, such a designation was never assigned. Molniya satellites intended for operational use were only assigned Kosmos designations if they were considered to have failed. If it had received a Kosmos designation, it would have been Kosmos 2451 ( meaning Cosmos 2451).

While the launch was originally considered to have been a partial failure, with the spacecraft able to correct its own orbit, it later emerged that the spacecraft could not reach a usable orbit, and the mission was declared a failure.

Meridian 2 is believed to have been based on the Uragan-M satellite bus, which has also been used for GLONASS navigation satellites. It was constructed by ISS Reshetnev. It was intended operate in a Molniya orbit with a perigee of , an apogee of , and 65° inclination.

Based on radio observations, Meridian 2 was known to downlink in the 278 MHz, 992 MHz-1002 MHz and 3.6 GHz bands.

On 23 April 2021, Meridian 2 naturally deorbited and burned up in the atmosphere.
Q159
Russia
LOC
Q149918
communications satellite
Concept
Q1475563
Meridian
Concept
Q593283
Molniya
MISC
Q14277703
Meridian 1
MISC
Q623140
Soyuz-2.1a
MISC
Q1453740
Fregat
MISC
Q7204634
Site 43/4
LOC
Q15778
Plesetsk Cosmodrome
LOC
Q147802
Kosmos
MISC
Q4139977
Uragan-M
MEDIA
Q372881
satellite bus
Concept
Q486250
GLONASS
MISC
Q179435
navigation satellite
Concept
Q2371486
ISS Reshetnev
ORG
Q1063974
Molniya orbit
Concept
Q83481
perigee
Concept
Q83481
apogee
Concept
Q4112212
inclination
Concept
Q531716
deorbit
Concept
Q61870
Meridian 2
MISC
Q61870
Meridian 2
MISC
Q61870
Meridian 2
MISC
Q61870
Meridian 2
MISC
Q61870
Meridian 2
MISC
2006-12-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
December 2006
DATE
2009-05-21T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
21 May 2009
DATE
2451-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2451
DATE
2451-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2451
DATE
2021-04-23T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
23 April 2021
DATE
+2^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
2
NUMBER
+12^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
12
NUMBER
+1^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
1
NUMBER
+2^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
2
NUMBER
-2.1^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
-2.1
NUMBER
+43^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
43
NUMBER
+4^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
4
NUMBER
+21^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
21
NUMBER
+53^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
53
NUMBER
+2^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
2
NUMBER
+65^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
65
NUMBER
+2^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
2
NUMBER
-1002^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
-1002
NUMBER
+3.6^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
3.6
NUMBER
+2^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
2
NUMBER
instance of
UTC date of spacecraft launch
part of
instance of