Elektro–L (russian: Электро-Л) is a series of meteorological satellites developed for the
Russian Federal Space Agency
The State Space Corporation "Roscosmos" (russian: Государственная корпорация по космической деятельности «Роскосмос»), commonly known simply as Roscosmos (russian: Роскосмос) ...
by
NPO Lavochkin
NPO Lavochkin (russian: НПО Лавочкина, OKB-301, also called Lavochkin Research and Production Association or shortly Lavochkin Association, LA) is a Russian aerospace company. It is a major player in the Russian space program, being th ...
. The first satellite,
Elektro-L No.1
Elektro-L No.1 (russian: Электро-L), also known as Geostationary Operational Meteorological Satellite No.2 or GOMS No.2, is a Russian geostationary weather satellite which was launched in 2011. The first Elektro-L spacecraft to fly, it beca ...
, was launched on 2 January 2011.
It is the first Russian weather satellite that successfully operates in
geostationary orbit,
and is currently the second operational Russian weather satellite.
The satellites have a mass of about 1620 kg and are designed to operate for 10 years each. They are capable of producing images of the Earth's whole hemisphere in both visible and infrared frequencies, providing data for climate change and ocean monitoring in addition to their primary weather forecasting role.
Development
Elektro–L was developed by the company
NPO Lavochkin
NPO Lavochkin (russian: НПО Лавочкина, OKB-301, also called Lavochkin Research and Production Association or shortly Lavochkin Association, LA) is a Russian aerospace company. It is a major player in the Russian space program, being th ...
and financed from the Russian Federal Space Program 2006–2015. The satellites will be operated by and provide data for
Roscosmos
The State Space Corporation "Roscosmos" (russian: Государственная корпорация по космической деятельности «Роскосмос»), commonly known simply as Roscosmos (russian: Роскосмос) ...
,
Scientific Research Center of Space Hydrometeorology "Planeta" and for the
(Roshydromet).
Elektro–L's predecessor was the
Elektro 1
Elektro is the nickname of a robot built by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in its Mansfield, Ohio facility between 1937 and 1938. Seven feet tall (2.1 m), weighing 265 pounds (120.2 kg), humanoid in appearance, he could walk by voic ...
satellite which was launched in 1994. Like Elektro–L, it was also designed to operate in geostationary orbit, but never became fully operational.
Along with the earlier
Meteor-M series, Elekto–L satellites are part of Russia's aim to restore its weather satellite network.
Before the launch of Elektro–L No.1, Russia had only one operational weather satellite in orbit:
Meteor-M No.1
Meteor-M No.1 was the first of the Russian Meteor-M series of polar-orbiting weather satellites. It was launched on a Soyuz-2.1b
Soyuz-2 (GRAU index 14A14) is a modernized version of the Soviet Soyuz rocket. In its basic form, it is a thr ...
, operating in an 830-km circular
sun-synchronous orbit
A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), also called a heliosynchronous orbit, is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local mean solar time. More technically, it ...
.
Due to lack of satellites, Russia is forced to use meteorological data provided by American and
Europea
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
n meteorological services.
Aerospace journalist
Anatoly Zak wrote that the launch of the first Elektro–L satellite marked the "re-emergence of Russia's space industry after two decades of economic turmoil", as the spacecraft and its standardised ''Navigator'' platform were both conceived and developed after the
disintegration of the Soviet Union.
Purpose
The Elektro–L satellites are capable of providing weather analysis and
forecasting
Forecasting is the process of making predictions based on past and present data. Later these can be compared (resolved) against what happens. For example, a company might estimate their revenue in the next year, then compare it against the actual ...
both for the territory of Russia and worldwide.
The satellites are able to image the entire hemisphere of
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surf ...
in
visible
Visibility, in meteorology, is a measure of the distance at which an object or light can be seen.
Visibility may also refer to:
* A measure of turbidity in water quality control
* Interferometric visibility, which quantifies interference contrast ...
and
infrared
Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from aroun ...
frequencies, additionally providing data on
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
, as well as sea and ocean monitoring.
An Elektro–L satellite can also be used to receive and relay
COSPAS-SARSAT
The International Cospas-Sarsat Programme is a satellite-aided search and rescue (SAR) initiative. It is organized as a treaty-based, nonprofit, intergovernmental, humanitarian cooperative of 45 nations and agencies (see infobox). It is de ...
emergency signals.
The addition of Elektro–L No.1 to Russia's weather satellite network is expected to make Russian weather forecasts more precise.
Spacecraft
The satellites have a mass of about 1620 kg, with the payload mass being 435 kg. Their operational lifetime is expected to be 10 years. The mean power consumption of the spacecraft is 700 W, which is satisfied by
solar panel
A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a pho ...
s providing 1.7 kW of power.
Elektro–L has a modular design, consisting of a payload and a service module. The service module, called
Navigator
A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's primar ...
and developed by
NPO Lavochkin
NPO Lavochkin (russian: НПО Лавочкина, OKB-301, also called Lavochkin Research and Production Association or shortly Lavochkin Association, LA) is a Russian aerospace company. It is a major player in the Russian space program, being th ...
, is a standardised platform which will also serve as the basis for future Russian satellites,
including for space telescope
Spektr-R.
The spacecraft's MSU-GS imaging system is able to provide a resolution of 1 km per pixel for the two visible bands and 4 km for eight infrared bands (ranging from 800 nm to 11,500 nm). They will normally take images every 30 minutes, but in case of emergencies, the interval can be shortened to 10 minutes.
The camera is an optical-mechanical scanner, sampling the visible bands at 12,576 pixels per line.
Sensor data downlink to Ground Acquisition and Distribution Center uses a X-band (7.5 GHz) frequency and has a data rate of 2.56-15.36 Mbits per second, while exchange of data between regional centers in X-band (at 8.2 and 7.5 GHz) offers data rates of up to 15.36 Mbit/s.
Launches
Elektro-L No.1
The first spacecraft of the series,
Elektro-L No.1
Elektro-L No.1 (russian: Электро-L), also known as Geostationary Operational Meteorological Satellite No.2 or GOMS No.2, is a Russian geostationary weather satellite which was launched in 2011. The first Elektro-L spacecraft to fly, it beca ...
, was launched at 15.29 Moscow Time (12:29 GMT) on 20 January 2011 from Pad 45 at
Baikonur Cosmodrome
''Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy'' rus, Космодром Байконур''Kosmodrom Baykonur''
, image = Baikonur Cosmodrome Soyuz launch pad.jpg
, caption = The Baikonur Cosmodrome's " Gagarin's Start" Soyu ...
. The launch vehicle used was a
Zenit-2SB, developed by the Ukrainian
Yuzhnoe Design Bureau
Pivdenne Design Office ( uk, Державне конструкторське бюро «Південне» ім. М. К. Янгеля , lit=State design bureau "Southern", named after M. K. Yangel, translit=Derzhavne konstruktors ...
. The rocket's third stage was a newly developed
Fregat-SB
Fregat (russian: Фрегат, ''frigate'') is an upper stage developed by NPO Lavochkin in the 1990s, which is used in some Soyuz and Zenit launch vehicles, but is universal and can be used as a part of a medium and heavy class launch vehicles ...
, a variation of the baseline Fregat, developed by Russia's
NPO Lavochkin
NPO Lavochkin (russian: НПО Лавочкина, OKB-301, also called Lavochkin Research and Production Association or shortly Lavochkin Association, LA) is a Russian aerospace company. It is a major player in the Russian space program, being th ...
.
At 15.37, the second stage separated and the Fregat-SB continued lifting the spacecraft into geostationary orbit. The satellite separated from the upper stage at 00.28 on 21 January.
On 21 January,
Roscosmos
The State Space Corporation "Roscosmos" (russian: Государственная корпорация по космической деятельности «Роскосмос»), commonly known simply as Roscosmos (russian: Роскосмос) ...
announced that the spacecraft was fully operational. "We have completed the first series of the testing. The spacecraft is fully operational", Deputy Head
Anatoly Shilov said.
The satellite's final orbital position in geostationary orbit is 159.1 degrees east longitude.
Elektro-L No.2
The next satellite in the series,
Elektro-L No.2
Elektro-L No.2 is a Russian geostationary weather satellite which launched on 11 December 2015.
It is the second Elektro-L spacecraft to fly, after Elektro-L No.1 launched in 2011. The Elektro-L No. 2 satellite system was developed by Lavockh ...
, initially slated for launch in 2013, was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on 11 December 2015 at 13:45 UTC. The launch vehicle was a Zenit-3F with Fregat-SB upper stage. It was the rocket's 83rd and possibly last flight.
Elektro-L No.3
The third satellite in the series
Elektro-L No.3, was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on 24 December 2019 at 12:03 UTC by a Proton-M rocket.
This satellite's orbit can be tracked a
uphere.space
References
External links
Video (24:21) - Planet Earth from Space- viewed from geostationary "
Elektro-L" weather satellite (timelapse - October, 2011 to March, 2012).
- Details about MSU-GS camera system (in Russian).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elektro-L
Weather satellites of Russia
Satellite series
Earth imaging satellites
lv:Elektro-L