MOSCOW. Nov 5 (Interfax) - Russia's Fregat upper stage has completed the insertion of 53 Russian and foreign small satellites launched as a secondary payload from the Vostochny Cosmodrome on Tuesday into their designated orbits, the Roscosmos state space corporation said.
"The secondary payload, which consisted of 49 Russian satellites, a Russian-Chinese satellite, a Russian-Zimbabwean satellite and two Iranian small satellites was delivered to its target orbits and separated from the Fregat upper stage, which was lifted by the Soyuz-2.1b rocket from Vostochny today," Roscosmos said in a statement published on its Telegram channel.
The Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle carrying the satellites blasted off at 2:18 a.m. Moscow time on Tuesday. It delivered the Fregat upper stage with the satellites to low-Earth orbit 9 minutes and 24 seconds later. Placing the Ionosfera-M1 and M2 satellites into their 820-meter orbit took about an hour, after which the Fregat started to deliver the small satellites to their target orbits.
The Ionosfera-M1 and M2 satellites will become part of the Ionozond space system, which is being developed by the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) and the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (Roshydromet) to monitor the space weather around Earth.
The Ionozond system will include four Ionosfera-M satellites. The next two satellites are expected to be launched in 2025, Roscosmos said.