MOSCOW. July 14 (Interfax) - Russia's Kanopus-V-IK remote sensing satellite has been successfully put into a near-Earth orbit, Roscosmos said in a report on Friday.
"A Fregat booster unit brought Kanopus-V-IK to a solar synchronous near polar orbit. A Mission Control Center main task force comprising specialists of the center and the plants which designed the satellite, has taken control of its flight," the state corporation said.
Kanopus-V-IK will operate together with the Kanopus-V-1 satellite launched in 2012, Roscosmos said. Another two Kanopus-V satellites are due to be launched in the end of 2017.
"They will make up a Kanopus-V cluster to drastically raise the promptness and quality of remote sensing of the Earth surface," Roscosmos said.
A Soyuz-2-1A LV launch vehicle carrying the Kanopus-V-IK and 72 small-sized satellites aboard blasted off from Baikonur on Friday morning.