By the end of the next decade, Russia plans to deploy a new constellation of spacecraft for geodetic purposes, as reported by RIA Novosti.
We are talking about the Geo-IK-3 system, which will be a further development of the Geo-IK-2 satellite complex. The latter is designed to build a high-precision geodetic network in a geocentric coordinate system, as well as to solve a number of applied problems that require the rapid determination of the coordinates of ground points.
The launch of the first Geo-IK-2 spacecraft, carried out on February 1, 2011, ended in an accident: the satellite was launched into an off-design orbit due to errors in the operation of the upper stage. The second and third devices of the family were successfully launched on June 4, 2016 and August 30, 2019.
The Geo-IK-3 constellation will include a total of five satellites. These are, in particular, two devices for altimetry, that is, measuring the heights of the earth's surface: they will be launched into orbit in 2027 and 2029.
In addition, for the Geo-IK-3 system, it is planned to create one apparatus for gradiometry (determining gravity gradients) and two satellites for gravimetry (measuring quantities characterizing the Earth's gravitational field). The launch of all these satellites is tentatively scheduled for 2028.
Source: 3dnews.ru