MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The blastoff of the Meteor-M meteorological satellite number 2-2 by the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with the Fregat upper stage from the Vostochny space center is scheduled to take place in three months, Russian state space corporation Roscosmos told Sputnik.
"The blastoff date for Meteor is June 27 from Vostochny", it said.
The Vostochny Сosmodrome has been under construction since 2012. The cosmodrome is one of the most expensive spaceports in the world with an estimated price of $7.5 billion. A total of four launches have been carried out from the cosmodrome since it was put into operation.
Meteor-M satellites are a new generation of russian meteorological satellites to replace the Meteor-3M series. The first two Meteor-M satellites will feature following instruments:
MSU-MR - Low-resolution Multispectral Scanner for global and regional for cloud cover mapping
KMSS-2 - multichannel scanning unit for Earth surface monitoring
MTVZA-GYa - imager/sounder for Atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles, sea surface wind
IKFS-2 advanced IR sounder for Atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles
BRK SSPD - Data Collection System
RK-SM-MKA - Modified Rescue Radio-complex
One intial Meteor-M 1 satellite was built, followed by three improved Meteor-M 2 series satellites.
Meteor-M 2-1 was launched on 28 November 2017 on a Soyuz-2-1b Fregat-M rocket, but was lost due to an upper stage problem.
The Meteor-M 3 satellite will have a largely modified configuration for an oceanographic mission.
Russian Soyuz Launch of Glonass Satellite From Plesetsk Cosmodrome. The third and final launch of the week falls on Friday April 26 at 0523 UTC (0123 EDT) this time from The Plesetsk Cosmodrome. Russia will be launching a Soyuz 2-1B configuration Rocket with Fregat Upper Stage carrying the Glosonass-M Navigation Satellite.- Photo By: Roscosmos
Plesetsk Cosmodrome (Russian: Космодром «Плесецк»), a Russian spaceport located in Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast, about 800 km north of Moscow and approximately 200 km south of Arkhangelsk, dates from 1957. Originally developed as an ICBM site for the R-7 missile, it also served for numerous satellite launches using the R-7 and other rockets. Its high latitude makes it useful only for certain types of launches, especially the Molniya orbits, so for much of the site's history it functioned as a secondary location, with most orbital launches taking place from Baikonur, in the Kazakh SSR. With the end of the Soviet Union, for Russia Baikonur became foreign territory which charged usage fees, so Plesetsk has seen considerably more activity since the 2000s.