Russia Launches First-ever Arctic Satellite

The first Russian satellite for weather forecasting and monitoring climate and environment in the Arctic region, Arktika-M, is planned to be sent to near-earth orbit in June 2019.

Sputnik quoted Russian space industry source saying: "The launch of the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle from the Baikonur cosmodrome with Fregat booster and the first hydrometeorological satellite Arktika-M is scheduled for June 2019."

According to sources, the equipment installed on Arktika-M satellite will be similar to the geostationary meteorological satellites of the Elektro-L series.

Arktika-M will be placed in a highly elliptical orbit, which will allow it to collect meteorological and hydrological information about the state of the Earth's polar regions that are poorly covered by Electro-L, it said.

Arktika-M will periodically move away from the Earth's surface and shot multi-scale images. It will have a rotation speed different from the Earth's, so that its shooting angle will change continuously.