MOSCOW, December 13 The Soyuz-2.1b rocket, which will send the second Arktika-M satellite into orbit on Saturday, necessary for monitoring the Northern Sea Route, was taken out of the installation and testing building at the Baikonur Cosmodrome and installed on the launch pad, Roscosmos reported.
«Union» with «Arktika-M» No. 2 is already at the start of Baikonur! The rocket was installed in a vertical position at the launch complex of the 31st site of Baikonur and is now quietly awaiting Day X. Roscosmos specialists continue preparations for the launch,” the message says.
The device was delivered to Baikonur on November 14, the rocket was assembled yesterday. As Roscosmos previously reported, the launch should take place on December 16 at 12.17 Moscow time.
Arktika-M satellites operate in a highly elliptical orbit, which allows them to explore the Arctic region. The launch of the first took place on February 28, 2021. The two devices will provide round-the-clock monitoring of the Earth's surface and clouds, as well as the seas in the Arctic.
Earlier, the former head of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexander Sergeev, said that when the number of satellites in orbit reaches four, such a system will allow monitoring the Arctic every 15 minutes with good spatial and temporal resolution and receiving up to two million images per year. It is planned that two more satellites will appear in the system by 2031.
In addition, in 2026, the design of the new generation of Arktika-MP devices will begin, which, due to a larger number of spectral channels, will be able to obtain images with better spatial resolution and provide qualitatively new information about high-latitude Arctic regions.
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