COSMOS International or COSMOS International Satellitenstart GmbH is a joint Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n-German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 Launch Service Provider

Launch Service Provider

A Launch Service Provider is a type of company which specialises in launching spacecraft. It is responsible for the ordering, conversion, or construction of the carrier rocket, assembly and stacking, payload integration, and ultimately conducting the launch itself...

 and satellite

Satellite

In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....

 manufacturer. A partnership between OHB System, Fuchs Gruppe and PO Polyot, COSMOS commercially markets launches using the Kosmos-3M rocket, which are subcontracted to the Russian Space Forces.

The organisation conducted its first launch on 28 April 1999, placing ABRIXAS and MegSat into orbit, on a single rocket. More recently, it has been responsible for the launches of SAR-Lupe

SAR-Lupe

SAR-Lupe is Germany's first reconnaissance satellite system and is used for military purposes. SAR is an abbreviation for synthetic aperture radar and "Lupe" is German for magnifying glass...

 satellites for Germany's Bundeswehr

Bundeswehr

The Bundeswehr consists of the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities...

(defence force).