The satellite successfully reached its intended orbit after being launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan by a Soyuz rocket, Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said in a Twitter post.
Russia plans to send a second satellite in 2023 and, combined, the two will offer monitoring 24 hours a day and in all climatic conditions in the Arctic Ocean and the Earth’s surface, Roscosmos said.
Arktika-M will have a highly elliptical orbit that passes high over northern latitudes, allowing it to monitor northern regions for long periods before returning down to Earth.
In the right orbit, the satellite will be able to monitor and take images of the Arctic every 15-30 minutes, which cannot be observed continuously by satellites orbiting above the Earth’s equator, Roscosmos said.
The satellite will also be able to relay distress signals from ships, aircraft or people in remote areas, as part of the Cospas-Sarsat satellite-based international search and rescue program, Roscosmos said.
“As more activities take place in the Arctic and it moves to higher latitudes, improving weather and ice skills is crucial,” said Mia Bennett, a geographer at the University of Hong Kong.
“There is also an element of data nationalism that is fueling all of this. Countries, especially those that consider themselves space powers, want to be able to rely on their own satellites and data to inform their activities, whether commercial or military in nature, “she said.