Roscosmos has confirmed plans to launch the first experimental satellites of the "Griffon" constellation in 2024. The main mass of them will go into orbit in 2025-2026, but the first four "Griffons" will fly this year, as planned. There are no launch postponements, as with the first satellites of another constellation from the Roscosmos project "Sphere", "Marathon-IoT".
As Sergey Prokhorov, Director of the Department of Advanced Programs and the Sphere project at Roscosmos, told TASS, a specialized industry operator will be engaged in the implementation of the Griffon project. Its financing will be carried out using external investments, as it is known, this is the first Roscosmos project with private participation.
The devices will be ready to be sent to the cosmodrome in late summer - early autumn, then - work at the cosmodrome and preparation for launch, which will ensure the launch before the end of this year.
"Griffon" is a project of an Earth monitoring system based on 136 CubeSat spacecraft. These are small artificial satellites with dimensions of 10×10×10 cm and a mass of no more than 1.33 kg, which significantly reduces the cost of launching such a device.
Every 30 hours, the system will receive data from the territory of Russia, no less than 38 hours - from the rest of the planet. "Griffon" will help to identify natural phenomena and man-made processes, regulate traffic flows and improve logistics.
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