Russia To Launch 4 Small University Satellites From Plesetsk In Late September - Source

Small satellites that have been developed by the universities of Moscow and Novosibirsk will be launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in late September, a space industry source told Sputnik

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th September, 2020) Small satellites that have been developed by the universities of Moscow and Novosibirsk will be launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in late September, a space industry source told Sputnik.

In late August, Russian satellite operator Gonets told Sputnik that the Soyuz-2.1B carrier rocket with the Fregat booster is scheduled to launch three Gonets-M satellites on September 28. As part of the launch, 15 foreign small satellites of the United States, Canada, Europe and the United Arab Emirates will also be put into orbit.

"Along with the Gonets [satellites], it is planned to launch four small satellites of Russian universities: 'Descartes' of the Institute of Nuclear Physics of Moscow State University, 'Yarilo-1' and 'Yarilo-2' of Bauman Moscow State Technical University and 'Norbi' of Novosibirsk State University," the source said.

According to the source, the Descartes satellite will study solar activity, monitor radiation in polar orbits and test the civil aircraft monitoring system. Yarilo will look into solar activity in the X-ray range and, along with Norbi, monitor space weather.