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NPO Lavochkin continues work on Arktika-M project

NPO Lavochkin (part of Roscosmos) continues working on Arktika-M system spacecraft. The Arktika-M No. 1 spacecraft is currently assembled and equipped with all the standard equipment except the heliogeophysical complex that is to be installed later. The vehicle has also passed separate electric and radio tests.

The plan also includes assembled spacecraft electric and radio tests, vacuum chamber tests, customer commissioning. These stages will see final spacecraft functioning checks. The second Arktika-M spacecraft has its onboard equipment manufactured.

Arktika-M and Elektro-L type satellites are built on the Navigator standardized platform and have almost identical target hardware. The main difference is the way the spacecraft operates: Elektro-L snaps regular pictures of Earth once in 15-30 minutes staying at the geostationary orbit, while Arktika-M photographs the Arctic region (inaccessible for continuous observation from the geostationary orbit) staying in the apogee of the Molnia-type high elliptical orbit (at this point the observation conditions are similar to the geostationary orbit).

Given the obit peculiarities, Arktika-M has increased equipment radiation protection requirements and larger solar panels. Moreover, continued uninterrupted observation of the Arctic region from the Molnia-type high elliptical orbit requires two satellites staggering each other in the orbit working part near its apogee. Given that, the Arktika-M space system orbit group has to consist of at least two spacecraft.