Moscow: Russia Sunday launched its Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle from its eastern spaceport “Vostochny” with 52 satellites, according to Rossiya-24 TV channel.
The payload consists of two Aist-2T satellites for stereoscopic photography of the Earth’s surface and 50 smaller spacecraft, the national space agency “Roscosmos” said.
According to Roscosmos, the Aist-2T Earth remote sensing spacecraft are designed to photograph the planet’s surface and obtain stereoscopic images to create digital terrain models.
The satellites will also be used to monitor emergencies, including fires, floods, and volcanic activity.
The two Aist-2T series spacecraft, Number 1 and Number 2, will work together to improve data accuracy and obtain more complete and detailed information about the areas under study. The planned active service life of the satellites is at least five years.
Some of the smaller spacecraft were developed by different Russian universities, as well as small CubeSat satellites under the Universat programme that will monitor climate change and “space weather” in low Earth orbit in the interests of the Russian Hydrometeorological Service, Roscosmos elaborated.