The Meteor-M satellite 2-3, scheduled for liftoff this year, would be liftoff in 2021, according to the Russian Space Agency. Back in December, the Meteor-M 2-2 went offline due to a meter influence. Roscosmos stated that the satellite reached a non-oriented flight.
The Russian Space Agency engineers succeeded to re-make the communication with the satellite and tried to put it back on track. A few days later, however, the satellite encountered other issues. The agency explained that the device’s orientation was redone and that it’s going to be fully operational soon.
“Roscosmos confirms Meteor-M satellite number 2-3 launch delay from 2020 to 2021,” reads the official statement of the Russian Space Agency.
Meteor-M Satellites Purpose and Features
Meteor represents a Russian LEO (Low-Earth-Orbiting) meteorological satellite series that began running in 1969. It was developed and designed by the All-Russian Scientific and Research Insitute of Electromechanics, or VNIIEM. Initially, the Meteor satellite was dubbed Cosmos, but after a successful series of nine Cosmos satellites, it was officially titled Meteor-1.
The specifications of the series Meteor-1, -2, and -3 represent various payload arrangements, enhanced spacecraft platforms, and other orbits. The Meteor-3 series, for example, is one of the most complex satellites so far. 25 Meteor-1 satellites were released from 1969 to 1977.
Meteor-M 2-2 satellite, like its two predecessors, is developed to examine the global weather, the ocean surface temperature, the ozone layer, and the ice conditions. It performs such actions to aid transportation in the polar areas of our planet. The device was produced at the VNIEEM Corporation, which relied on its usual Resurs-UKP-M platform as a foundation for the Meteor-M series. The Meteor-M2-2’s was prepared to run for at least five years. It will soon become the third device in the Meteor-3M series, after the 2014 Meteor-M-2, and the 2009 Meteor-M-1.
