Two Russian area climate satellites are on their approach to orbit, together with an Iranian spacecraft and a passel of cubesats.
A Soyuz 2.1b rocket lifted off from Vostochny Cosmodrome in Siberia right this moment (July 25) at 1:54 a.m. EDT (0554 GMT; 8:54 a.m. Moscow time), carrying Russia’s Ionosfera-M 3 and 4 satellites towards Earth orbit. The Soyuz additionally carried 18 secondary payloads, in keeping with RussianSpaceWeb.com, together with an Iranian communications satellite tv for pc known as Nahid-2.
All the pieces went properly within the early phases of the launch, which the Russian area company Roscosmos streamed dwell. The webcast ended about 10 minutes after launch, nevertheless, so information of satellite tv for pc deployments should come by way of updates from the company.
The primary two Ionosfera-M satellites launched from Vostochny in November 2024. Spacecraft 3 and 4 will spherical out the mini constellation, which flies about 509 miles (820 kilometers) above Earth.
“The quartet is designed to watch area climate phenomena, such because the impression of photo voltaic wind on the near-Earth area affecting civilian and army programs,” RussianSpaceWeb wrote.
As their identify suggests, the Ionosfera satellites give attention to the ionosphere, a layer of Earth’s environment that ranges from about 50 to 400 miles (80 to 645 km) in altitude. The ionosphere interacts strongly with the solar, which explains the layer’s identify: its atoms and molecules are ionized (have had electrons stripped away) by photo voltaic radiation.
Ionosfera-M 3 and 4 are headed for an orbital aircraft perpendicular to that of their two brethren, “thus significantly increasing the three-dimensional protection of the Earth’s magnetosphere,” in keeping with RussianSpaceWeb. “The second pair would additionally embrace for the primary time the Ozonometr-TM instrument for measuring ranges of ozone within the higher environment.”
The 17 cubesats flying on the Soyuz this morning are all Russian-built and can conduct remote-sensing and different work in orbit.
Certainly one of them is a 16U cubesat and the opposite 16 are 3U craft, in keeping with RussianSpaceWeb. A “U” is the usual cubesat unit; it consists of a dice measuring 10 centimeters (about 4 inches) on a aspect.
