Artika Space System To Push Through Arctic Ocean, Polar Regions Weather & Enviornment Monitoring Services in 2017

Artika Space System, a Russian project, will not be affected by the Western sanctions since the satellites' original design was based on the country's technology. The report was based on the statement from Sergei Lemeshevsky of the Lavochkin Research and Production Association.

The Artika Space System's first satellite network is set to be launched in  2017 in spite of the anti-Russian sanctions of the West, including the revised 2016-2025 Federal Space Program, according to the acting director general of the system developer.  Lemeshevsky stated that the complete shift to the Russian technology is not going to affect their plans on the Artika project. He also added that nearly all the devices and components have already been gathered and the remaining parts are expected to be received in 2016.

Arktika Space System's satellite network was designed to check on the environment and weather changes in the Arctic Ocean and the polar regions. Two of its satellites are going to be operating continuously as part of its space network to give the required coverage. This implies that the Western sanctions will have no implications for this project due to the satellites' design, which is based originally on the Russian technology, Space Daily reported.

Meanwhile, NPO Lavochkin and the Russian Space Systems or RKS are developing on-board systems to provide the first spacecraft, according to Mikhail Khailov,  deputy chief of the state corporation. To date, a great deal of ground experimental work is already done, and by the end of 2017, the spacecraft is expected to be ready for its test flights, WNN reported.

The Russian Federal Space Agency, or Roscosmos, has signed the contract to develop the initial phase of the multi-purpose Arktika satellite network, including the Lavochkin NPO in 2012. Although the manufacturing has been scheduled for completion in November 2015, the launching of the first satellite had been moved to 2017 because of the several revisions made for the 2016-2025 Federal Space Program.