"Russian Space Systems" (a holding company that is part of the Roscosmos State Corporation), together with NPO Lavochkina, are creating the Pixel-VR satellite constellation. It will form the basis of the promising Autograph space-based Earth remote sensing (ERS) system.
Initially, there will be 14 mini-satellites. But over time, it is planned to increase the number of Pixel-VRs in orbit to 72 units.
Pixel-VR satellites, with dimensions of only 1 x 1 x 1.9 m, will operate in a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 500-700 km. They will be able to:
- provide high- оперативности and quality ERS data in automatic mode to ground stations. For example, these could be emerging forest fires or river floods, filmed from space;
- expand the range of digital geoinformation services;
- observe the planet in the visible and near-infrared range of the spectrum;
- perform area surveys of up to 240 thousand square kilometers per day or survey one area up to twice a day.
The first Pixel-VR is planned to be produced by 2025, and the launch will be carried out in 2026. Two debut copies of Pixel-VR will be built on the Karat-200 platform of NPO Lavochkina, and a new platform will be created for the remaining satellites, configured for mass production.
Read materials on the topic:
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