Article Posted on : - Sep 14, 2009

A File Photo of Meteor-M satellite.

MOSCOW (BNS): Russia will launch a new meteorological satellite on Tuesday, starting the process of restoring the country's weather forecasting capabilities, Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said on Monday.

Meteor-M weather satellite and five smaller satellites will be launched on board the Soyuz 2.1b carrier rocket from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, Russia, according to a Ria Novosti report.

Meteor-M weighs about 2,700 kilograms and has a service life of five years. It will orbit at an altitude of 830 kilometers.

The satellite is designed to monitor atmospheric and sea-surface temperatures, humidity, radiation, sea ice conditions, snow-cover, and clouds.

The satellite is the first to carry a �Severyanin-M� radar, which operates in the centimeter wave band to provide all-weather and round-the-clock data independent of natural illumination, as per Ria Novosti.

Russia plans to put a second Meteor-M satellite into orbit in the near future to ensure independent collection of meteorological data, concluded the report.

Meteor-M satellites are a new generation of russian meteorological satelllites.