12585 - Meteor Priroda

The last in a series of Russian earth land resources satellites. 5 launches, 1974.07.09 (Meteor 1-18) to 1981.07.10 (Meteor 1-31).

Soviet development of remote sensing systems in support of the national economy began with a decree in December 1971 'On development work for research on earth resources using space technology'. The result was Meteor-Priroda 1, launched on 9 July 74 into a 950 km orbit by a Vostok-2M rocket, The satellite, derived from the basic Meteor weather satellite, was equipped with a radio-television system using an optico-mechanical sensor by VNIIEM Minelektrotekhprom, A G Yosifyan, General designer. This was followed from 18 May 1976 by Meteor-Priroda 2-1, in 650 km sun-synchronous 97 degree orbits. Receiving stations were located at Goskomgidormet facilities in Moscow, Novosibirsk, Khabarovsk.

Facts in Brief

Launch Date: 1981-07-10
Launch Vehicle: Modified SS-6 (Sapwood) with 1st Generation Upper Stage
Launch Site: Plesetsk, U.S.S.R
Mass: 2200.0 kg