Roscosmos reported that the launch-vehicle was in normal mode, after which the head of the rocket separated from the third stage at a set time. The rocket carried into space the satellite “meteor-M” № 2-1 and 18 spacecraft payloads.
The main load of this rocket was the “meteor-M” № 2-1, the device space complex “meteor-3M”, developed by the Corporation “VNIIEM”. Its weight is 2.9 tonnes. The unit will operate in orbit for the next five years, where it will collect operational hydrometeorological information for weather forecasting, monitoring the ozone layer and radiation environment in near-earth space. In addition, after reaching the desired orbit, it needs to monitor sea surface and to monitor the condition of the ice from an altitude of about 820 kilometers. According to calculations, the Satellite “meteor-M” was separated at 9:32 MSK and start to transmit the telemetry, but this has not happened yet.
In addition to the “Meteor” satellite into orbit went another 18 small spacecraft including the Russian “Baumanets-2”, canadian LEO Vantage, the Norwegian AISSat-Z, the Japanese IDEA of the Swedish satellites SEAM, two American machine Landmapper-BC, 10 satellites LEMUR, also owned by the United States and another German D-Star One.
The last of the satellites must be launched into orbit at around 12:54 Moscow time, after which the upper stage will enter the atmosphere and burn up. All that will remain of it will sink in the Pacific ocean about 14 hours GMT.
This launch was the second launch of the rocket, carried out a new cosmodrome “East”. The first launch took place on 28 April last year — then the carrier rocket “the Union” was able to launch only the second time.
From the Vostochny cosmodrome launched rocket “Soyuz-2.1 b” with 19 satellites
Vyacheslav Larionov