Glavkosmos organized the launch of 18 small spacecraft from the Vostochny Cosmodrome
VOSTOCHNY, February 29. – The Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle with the Fregat upper stage was launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome on Thursday, at 08:43 Moscow time, the rocket successfully injected into orbit the satellite Meteor-M No. 2-4 as the main payload and 18 small spacecraft as a rideshare payload. Today's launch was the first one for Vostochny in 2024.
Glavkosmos (part Roscosmos) acted as the launch service provider for the rideshare payload. The company managed the general organization and coordination of the activities of the Russian space industry enterprises and those of the small spacecraft manufacturers and customers at all stages of the launch of the rideshare payload preparation.
All rideshare spacecraft are intended for civilian space missions. A private Russian company SPUTNIX (part of the Sitronics Group) manufactured seventeen of the small spacecraft launched today: 16 small spacecraft of the Russian SITRO-AIS Automatic Identification System (AIS) constellation for tracking marine vessels; and Zorky-2M, a spacecraft for the ultra–small Earth remote sensing satellite constellation. One more small spacecraft was launched for the benefit of a foreign commercial customer.
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Glavkosmos, JSC is a subsidiary of the State Space Corporation Roscosmos. The main task of the company is to promote the achievements of the Russian rocket and space industry to world markets and to manage complex international projects. Throughout its history, the company has successfully fulfilled over 140 international contracts, including the launch of more than 200 spacecraft as a secondary payload.
Since May 2021, Glavkosmos has been the official operator of Roscosmos trademarks.
ROSCOSMOS is a State Corporation established in August 2015 to carry out a comprehensive reform of the Russian rocket and space industry. ROSCOSMOS ensures the implementation of the state policy in space activities and its normative and legal regulations, as well as places orders for the design, production and supply of space equipment and space infrastructure. ROSCOSMOS is also vested with authority to develop international cooperation in space and establish the appropriate environment for applying achievements in space domain for the social and economic development in Russia.