The head of Russia’s space program announced that the country had launched 18 small satellites into space this month, including one that Iran had provided.
Knewz.com has learned that Yury Borisov, the head of the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), told Vladimir Putin in a one-on-one interview that the satellite launches had been “accident-free.”
According to The Daily Star, Borisov said the country sent a Meteor-M series satellite to join its weather cluster and included 18 other small satellites along with that launch.
The weather satellite was likely launched on February 29, and there are no details about what the other satellites were being used for, although it is likely also weather-related.
The Observing Systems Capability Analysis and Review Tool says the Meteor-M series is designed for observational meteorology and has made a “substantial contribution to land observation and space weather.”
While it is not confirmed that the Iranian satellite was a Pars 1, that technology is also used for “Earth observation,” focussed primarily on agriculture, forest development, the condition of lakes, and the impact of natural disasters.
Russia often launches the Pars 1 series because Iranian launch bases are not able to launch the satellites at the proper angle to allow the machines to orbit Earth at a pace that keeps up with solar time in Iran.
Iranian scientists do not want the satellite to be orbiting over Argentina when they are trying to analyze the impact of farmland on the forests around Tehran.
One of the Russian satellites launched was a Sitro-AIS, essentially a rectangular box that sends and receives signals to ground stations to monitor navigation.
Small satellites are a common feature of modern space technology.
The most famous example is the Starlink system created by SpaceX, which is designed to build a low-cost source of internet service in remote locations.
The company hopes to build a “mega constellation” that contains around 42,000 satellites, and while they are small by satellite standards, they still weigh over 1,700 pounds.
As of today, 5,504 Starlink satellites are in orbit, and 5,442 of them are operational.
Starlink has played a crucial role in the Ukraine War, providing Kyiv with a crucial source of internet and communications to replace its previous infrastructure destroyed by Russian attacks.
It has provided necessary internet services to civilians and was also used by the Ukrainian military to organize defense tactics and counterattacks.
Starlink has not extended its service to Crimea, which frustrated Kyiv because it made it more challenging for them to operate in the region.
For civilians, Starlink is used mainly for critical communications with the outside world, as the service is still expensive for the average Ukrainian. But it has been an essential resource for humanitarian aid workers, journalists and members of government.
The country has also built “points of invincibility” in Ukraine, which are areas where people could gather if Russia successfully destroys the entire domestic internet infrastructure.
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Author: Kevin McSpadden
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