Corporation Energia performed successful leak tests of hydrometeorological spacecraft (SC) No. 2-1 developed by JSC VNIIEM Corporation.

The tests were conducted in a thermal vacuum chamber using a helium procedure in a 24-hour mode for three days jointly with representatives of JSC VNIIEM Corporation under the supervision of SC Roscosmos.

The use of the helium procedure ensures the highest sensitivity and accuracy of the leak tests in vacuum.

After the leak tests, helium was removed from SC with dry compressed air.

The launch of Meteor-M № 2-1 in planned for November, 2017. It will be put into orbit by Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle with Fregat upper stage.

The Meteor-M SC No. 2-1 is intended for obtaining:

• global and local images of clouds, the Earth surface, ice and snow cover in the visible IR and microwave (including centimeter) ranges;
• data for determining the sea surface temperature and the radiation temperature of the underlying surface;
• data on the distribution of ozone in the atmosphere and its total content;
• data for determining the total content of small gas components of the atmosphere;
• data on the spectral density of the energy brightness of outgoing radiation for determining the vertical temperature and humidity profiles in the atmosphere, as well as for estimating components of the radiation balance of the Earth-atmosphere system.