The upper stage is already putting it into the given orbit
Today, December 16, as planned, at 12:17 Moscow time the launch vehicle Soyuz-2.1b took place from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. with accelerating block «Fregat» and hydrometeorological spacecraft «Arktika-M» No. 2. According to the press service of Roscosmos, the launch vehicle operated normally, the upper stage separated from the third stage of the rocket and is currently launching the satellite into the desired orbit.
Spacecraft «Arktika-M» No. 2 is designed to monitor the hydrometeorological situation in the Arctic region and adjacent territories, control the heliogeophysical situation in near-Earth space, relay signals from emergency beacons of the international satellite search and rescue system COSPAS-SARSAT and information from automatic measuring platforms for data collection of Roshydromet, including those located in the Arctic region.
First satellite «Arktika-M» was launched into orbit back in February 2021 and was fully put into operation as part of the hydrometeorological space system «Arctic-M» in September 2021. The presence in the system of the second device «Arktika-M» will provide a continuous round-the-clock overview of the northern territory of Russia and the Arctic region: the satellites will alternately replace each other in working sections of the orbits, Roscosmos noted. Creation and launch of the next constellation satellites — «Arctic-M» No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 — planned until 2031.