On 21 April 2013, at 18 h 02 min Moscow legal time the AIST small satellite created by TsSKB-Progress in cooperation with Samara State Aerospace University separated from the Bion-M1 spacecraft.

The Bion-M1 spacecraft is operating at an orbit altitude of 575 km. Onboard systems of the spacecraft and the power-supply system based on a solar power unit are functioning nominally.

Scientific hardware is operating in accordance with the flight program; rapid information is transferred to developers and experimentalists via telemetry system.

After separation from the Bion-M1 spacecraft, the AIST small satellite began operating in a specified orbit. All of the satellite systems are currently being tested.

The satellite telemetry information is regularly transferred to the Ground Command Station of the Centre of Earth Remote Sensing Data Reception and Processing (GCS TsPOI) organized in TsSKB-Progress.

Students and postgraduates of Samara State Aerospace University in cooperation with specialists of TsSKB-Progress will operate the AIST satellite meant for solving educational, scientific, and experimental problems.

Reference

The Bion-M1 research spacecraft was launched by Soyuz-2.1a from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 19 April 2013 at 14 p.m. Moscow time.