Russia's Next Meteor-M Meteorological Satellite To Be Launched In August 2021 - Developer

Russia's Next Meteor-M Meteorological Satellite to Be Launched in August 2021 - Developer

Russia's next Meteor-M meteorological satellite is expected to be launched from the Vostochny spaceport in the Far East in August 2021, a spokesman for the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Electromechanics (a Roscosmos subsidiary, which develops the satellites) said on Friday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st February, 2020) Russia's next Meteor-M meteorological satellite is expected to be launched from the Vostochny spaceport in the Far East in August 2021, a spokesman for the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Electromechanics (a Roscosmos subsidiary, which develops the satellites) said on Friday.

Last week, Roscosmos confirmed to Sputnik that the launch of the Meteor-M satellite number 2-3 would be postponed from November to 2021 due to the need to conduct additional tests.

"The launch [of the Meteor-M number 2-3] is expected in August 2021," Ilya Slobodskoy said at an international conference on aviation and space insurance.

Russia currently has in orbit three Meteor-M satellites, with numbers 1, 2 and 2-2. The target meteorological equipment of the Meteor-M number 1 is not operational, while additional scientific equipment is functioning. The predicted life of the satellite expired in 2014. The Meteor-M number 2, launched to orbit in 2014, is also operating beyond its warranty period.

The Meteor-M satellite number 2-1 was lost in 2017 after an emergency launch from the Vostochny spaceport. In December, Roscosmos said that the Meteor-M number 2-2, launched in July, had collided with a micrometeorite, after which it had changed its orbit and had lost its orientation. However, control over the satellite was restored later. Meteor-M satellites number 2-3 and 2-4 are under production.