The Soyuz spacecraft launched the heliophysical satellites Ionosphere-M No. 1 and No. 2, a representative said of Roscosmos, quoted by RIA Novosti.
The ship brought the upper stage "Frigate" with both devices in low Earth orbit for 9 minutes and 24 seconds.
After the separation of the ionosphere, Fregat will have to deliver 53 small instruments into working orbits, including 28 satellites of the automatic ship identification system SITRO-AIS of the company Sputniks (part of the Sitronics Group), as well as 16 training satellites. of the scientific and educational project Space-π and the first Russian-Chinese student satellite “Friendship ATURK“, as well as the Kowsar and Hodhod devices of the private Iranian company Space Omid.
As IKI Director Anatoly Petrukovich told reporters after the launch, the importance of studying the ionosphere lies in the fact that it is this region of the Earth's orbit that reflects the Sun's influence on the planet. According to him, in particular, the effectiveness of navigation systems and other technical devices related to the transmission of radio signals depends on the state of the ionosphere.
The Ionosphere-M satellites, weighing 430 kilograms each, from an orbit at an altitude of 820 kilometers will observe physical phenomena in the Earth's ionosphere, changes in its structure, disturbances in electromagnetic fields, the composition of the Earth's atmosphere and the distribution of ozone in its upper layers as well as will monitor the radiation situation. Later, the group will be supplemented with two more such satellites and one Zond-M.