Specialists of the Center for testing refueling complexes of the Yuzhny Space Center (a branch of the Center for Operation of Ground-Based Space Infrastructure Objects, part of the Roscosmos State Corporation) on February 4, 2021, began operations to refuel the Arktika-M spacecraft with propellants.
Refueling is scheduled to be completed on February 7, then the spacecraft will be transported to the assembly and test building for preparation for assembly as part of the spacecraft head of the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle. Its launch is scheduled for late February 2021 from the Vostok launch complex (site 31) of the Baikonur cosmodrome.
Spacecraft “Arktika-M”, developed at the Scientific and Production Association named after S.А. Lavochkin (part of the State Corporation “Roscosmos”), is intended for regular (with a frequency of 15-30 minutes) surveying the Arctic region of the Earth, being in the apogee of the highly elliptical orbit of the “Molniya” type.