The Soyuz-2.1b rocket with the first Russian satellite Arktika-M for monitoring the climate and environment in the Arctic region has successfully launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome. The corresponding broadcast on Sunday, February 28, was conducted on the Roscosmos website.
The launch vehicle took place at 9:55 am Moscow time from the 31st site of Baikonur.
As Dmitry Rogozin, General Director of Roscosmos, specified in his Telegram channel, the launch went smoothly. “The separation of the head unit and the first on-off of the propulsion system of the upper stage took place at the estimated time,” he wrote.
It is expected that in total, the launching of the satellite by the upper stage will take more than 2 hours and will be completed at 12:14 Moscow time.
The Arktika-M satellite was created at the Lavochkin Research and Production Association (Roscosmos enterprise). The need for the use of “Arktika-M” arose, since the geostationary meteorological devices of the “Electro-L” series poorly view the polar zones. When both satellites are in orbit, the Hydrometeorological Center will be able to continuously receive operational data on the state of the atmosphere and surface at the poles. This will allow more accurate models for short-term weather forecasts and provide scientists with information to study global warming.
Initially, it was planned to launch the first such device at the end of 2020, but then the launch was postponed. It was also reported that three more Arktika-M satellites are scheduled to be sent into orbit in 2023, 2024 and 2025.