MOSCOW. Nov 29 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Federal Space Agency hopes that the Monitor-E satellite will operate efficiently in the future, the Federal Space Agency press-service said.
"The Federal Space Agency is quite upbeat about the fact that special equipment, fitted on Russia's only remote Earth-probing satellite, has become operational. The agency pins much hope on the satellite," the press-service said, commenting on receiving the first images from the Monitor-E satellite.
According to the press-service, the Monitor-E spacecraft will photograph the surface of the Earth with the help of a panchromatic optronic camera on Tuesday.
Special equipment onboard the Monitor-E satellite was activated and the first images of the Earth surface were received on November 26. On November 23 the Khrunichev Space Center successfully tested operation of the image transfer radio system, mounted on the Monitor-E satellite. Radio signals were received by remote probing stations of the Khrunichev Space Center and the ScanEx engineering center (the UniScan station with an aerial diameter of 2.4 m) in Moscow.
The tests resulted in getting a stable system with excellent parameters. The results of the tests allowed the next stage to be embarked on, namely activating the special equipment and getting the first images.
Monitor-E was launched into space by a Rockot carrier rocket from the Plesetsk Space Center on August 26. It was launched to a circular solar-synchronized orbit at an altitude of 540 km. The satellite weighing 750 kg is fitted with two cameras with a resolution of eight and 20 meters.
The Monitor-E remote Earth-probing satellite is an experimental spacecraft, designed to provide informational support in such spheres as nature management, mapping, environmental monitoring, and natural and man-caused disaster management.