MOSCOW. March 22 (Interfax) - Russia's Roscosmos state space corporation is planning to deploy a constellation of four Arktika-M satellites for monitoring the Arctic region in orbit by 2029, Vitaly Mironichev, the director of the Roscosmos navigation space system department, said.
"The constellation comprises four Arktika satellites, we're planning to deploy it by 2029, it will provide continuous monitoring of the Arctic region, including the Northern Sea Route, from two angles," Mironichev said at the all-Russian meeting on satellite imagery in 2023.
The new-generation Arktika-MP spacecraft will be unified with the Elektro-M satellite, he said. The satellite's platform and equipment will mostly be based on the Russian component base, he said.
Roscosmos said on December 16, 2022, that it will increase the Arktika-M satellite constellation from the two planned ones to four.
It was also reported that the development of the Arktika-MP hydro-meteorological satellite would begin in 2026.
The first Arktika-M satellite was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on February 28, 2021. The second one will be launched in 2023.
The Arktika hydro-meteorological and climate monitoring system operates in the Arctic region. It needs at least two satellites to be operational.