Status
Success
Elektro-L n°1
Thu Jan 20, 2011 12:29 UTC
Rocket
Mission Details
Elektro-L n°1
Elektro-L n°1 (Russian: Электро-L) is a Russian geostationary weather satellite that was launched in 2011. The first Elektro-L spacecraft to fly, it became the first Russian geostationary weather satellite to be launched since Elektro n°1 in 1994. It was manufactured by Lavochkin, based on the Navigator satellite bus, and had a mass at launch of 1740 kilograms. Designed to operate for ten years, the satellite is positioned over the Indian Ocean at a longitude of 76 degrees east.
The MSU-GS scanner is the primary instrument aboard the spacecraft. It is designed to produce visible light and infrared images of a full disc of the Earth. It can produce an image every half-hour, with visible light images having a resolution of one kilometre, and infrared images having a resolution of four kilometres. The satellite also carries GGAK-E, a heliophysics payload designed to study radiation from the Sun. The satellite will also be used to relay data between Russian weather stations, and will also be used to relay signals as part of the Cospas-Sarsat system. It carries seven infrared channels and three visible channels.