At the end of January 2011, the Elektro-L weather satellite was launched into orbit. The geostationary hydrometeorological space complex (this is its full name) is equipped with equipment that allows observation of the Earth in the visible and infrared ranges. The satellite takes stunning photographs that astronomy enthusiasts can use to create wonderful GIFs. Lenta.ru offers readers the most interesting folk art.

The Elektro-L satellite began to be developed at the Lavochkin Research and Production Association back in 2001 as Russia’s contribution to the international meteorological observation network. The device was supposed to be in orbit by 2006, but due to the crisis in the space industry, caused by a large number of projects and a lack of resources for their implementation, its production was delayed.

As a result, the satellite was launched from Baikonur only in January 2011. It was launched into orbit by a Zenit-2SB rocket with a Fregat-SB upper stage. The mass of the device was 1.8 tons. It was launched into geostationary orbit at an altitude of approximately 36 thousand kilometers.

The satellite is equipped with two main instruments. The first and most important is the multi-spectral scanning device for hydrometeorological support (MSU-GS). Essentially, this is a huge camera that films the entire disk of the Earth every half hour. If necessary (for example, when observing a storm), the shooting frequency increases to one frame every 10-15 minutes.

Formation of cumulus clouds over Madagascar November 3, 2013 1 /4

MSU allows you to obtain very high resolution images: 1 kilometer per pixel in the visible range and 4 kilometers per pixel in the infrared. The result is 125 megapixel photos. In “raw” form they are available on the FTP server of the Scientific Center for Operational Earth Monitoring, which belongs to Roscosmos, and the Planet Research Center, which is a division of Roshydromet.

In addition to the MSU, the Heliogeophysical Instrumentation Complex (GGAC) is installed on board the satellite. This complex consists of several scientific instruments, including spectrometers and detectors of charged particles with energies from 0.05 to 600 megaelectronvolts, a meter for solar activity and X-ray radiation from it, as well as a device for determining the vector of the Earth’s magnetic field.

After launch, Electro-L experienced problems. The NGO admitted that the device does not work well in all spectra. However, in the optical range, the photographs he received turned out to be of the required quality, and it was “Electro-L” that took the most detailed panorama of the Earth to date.

The passage of the lunar shadow across Australia during the solar eclipse on May 10, 2013 1 /4

It is noteworthy that the weather satellite is built on the same platform as the Radioastron telescope. In this sense, the experience gained by Russian engineers (even if not entirely positive - the shortcomings were discussed above) is important for its further improvement. The Lavochkin NPO hopes that the new platform will make it possible to produce scientific spacecraft almost en masse.

Unlike NASA, Roscosmos does not process and publish images from the spacecraft, and as a result, many good images remain unnoticed. However, a fairly dense community of users has developed around Electro-L, who exchange interesting photos and create GIFs based on them.

Six thousand leagues over the water