OREANDA-NEWS. December 14, 2012. Academician M.F. Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems has been awarded a contract for the manufacture of Geo-IK-2, a new geodetic spacecraft.

The satellite which is planned to launch in 2015 from the Plesetsk cosmodrome is designed to revise the geocentric coordinate system, provide more precise characteristics of the Earth’s geopotential, as well as to monitor continental drift, Earth tides and other natural phenomena worldwide.

The Reshetnev Company in cooperation with its partners has recently embarked on the manufacture of payload instruments. Apart from that, ISS-Reshetnev has subcontracted the French division of Thales Alenia Space to deliver the SADKO-3 altimeter which is the main instrument aboard the geodetic satellite.

The Geo-IK-2 spacecraft will be integrated into the same-name system of low-orbit satellites. Another spacecraft of the series has already been completed and is currently housed at ISS-Reshetnev, waiting to be launched.