Ionozond

The successful launch of the second pair of Ionosphere‑M satellites, Nos. 3 and 4, of the Ionozond project took place on 25 July 2025. The scientific payload of these spacecraft includes two Ozonometer‑TM instruments for monitoring total ozone content in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Today at 08:54 MSK, the Soyuz-2.1b launcher with the Fregat upper stage, carrying the heliogeophysical spacecraft Ionosfera-M No. 3 and No. 4, and 18 small spacecraft was launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome. The Fregat upper stage placed two Ionosfera-M No. 3 and No. 4 satellites into orbit, and they are under the control of the specialists at the Flight Control Center.

The State Commission has decided to conclude the flight tests of the two Ionosphere-M spacecraft and recommended the acceptance of the Ionozond space system into operation. The scientific payload has been tested and is ready for routine operations.

At the first plenary session Anatoly Petrukovich, IKI Director, spoke about scientific experiments and technological opportunities that can be done with spacecraft in low-Earth orbits.

Scientific instruments onboard Ionosphere-M No 1 switched on for the first time from November 29 to December 4, 2024.

Today, November 5, 2024, at 02:18:40,459 Moscow time, Soyuz-2.1b rocket launcher with Fregat booster sent into space two Earth satellites Ionosphere-M №1 and №2 together with 53 small satellites.

Two identical satellites Ionosphere-M №1 and №2 are to be launched on November 5, 2024 from Vostochny launch pad. г. They are part of Ionozond project, which will focus on the studies of terrestrial ionosphere and space weather monitoring.

Full-scale mockup of an Ionosphere-M spacecraft for the Ionozond project is now on display at the IKI’s exhibition.