MOSCOW, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- Russia launched a new hydrometeorological satellite, Meteor-M No. 2-4, into space on Thursday from the Vostochny cosmodrome in the Amur region of the Far East, said Russian State Space Corporation ROSCOSMOS.
The Soyuz-2.1b rocket with a Fregat upper stage that carried the satellite also delivered 18 small satellites from Russia and other countries to their target orbits.
The satellite is designed to perform tasks related to hydrometeorological support, climate and environmental monitoring, study of the Earth's natural resources, control of the heliogeophysical situation in near-Earth space, as well as data collection and relay of signals from emergency beacons of the international satellite search and rescue system COSPAS-SARSAT.
The satellite is equipped with an onboard radar complex based on an active phased array antenna and other instruments which enable all-weather radar monitoring of the Northern Sea Route and expand the range of monitored heliogeophysical parameters.
This is the third Russian rocket launch in 2024 and the first one from the Vostochny cosmodrome. ■