Russia To Launch 1st Arktika-M Satellite To Monitor Arctic Region In December - Source

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd February, 2020) Russia will launch its first Arctic-M satellite to monitor climate and the environment in the Arctic region from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan in December 2020, a Russian space industry source told Sputnik.

"The launch of a Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with the Fregat booster and the first Arctic-M satellite is planned for December 9," the source said.

Arktika-M is a series of planned Russian remote-sensing and emergency communications satellites operating in an highly elliptical 12-hour orbit.

The payload consists of the MSU-GSM multi-spectral imager as well as transmitters for meteorological and rescue systems.

Russia's State Space Corporation Roscosmos said in August 2019 that the launch of the second Arktika-M satellite had been postponed until 2023.

The Federal space program for 2016-2025 stipulates the launch of three more Arktika-M satellites in 2023, 2024 and 2025 respectively, but a contract for their production has not yet been concluded.