Russia launched a Soyuz rocket early Tuesday carrying two satellites designed to monitor space weather around Earth and 53 small satellites, including two Iranian ones, Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said.
The Soyuz-2.1 launch spacecraft, which took off from Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome, carried two Ionosfera-M satellites, which will become part of the space system for monitoring Earth’s ionosphere, the agency said.
The ionosphere, where Earth’s atmosphere meets space, extends about 50 to 400 miles (80 to 644 km) above Earth’s surface, according to information on NASA’s website.
Each Ionosfera-M satellite weighs 430 kg (948 lb) and its operating orbit is at an altitude of 820 km (510 miles), according to Interfax news agency.
The system will include a total of four of the Ionosfera-M satellites. The next two devices are expected to launch in 2025, Roscosmos reported.
Among the 53 small satellites are two Iranian satellites, Kowsar, a high-resolution imaging satellite, and Hodhod, a small communications satellite, as well as the first Russian-Chinese student satellite Druzhba ATURK.
Russia launched an Iranian research satellite into space in February that will scan Iran’s topography from orbit, Iranian state media reported at the time.
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