TsSKB-Progress designed and manufactured Earth remote sensing satellite Resurs-P was successfully launched by Soyuz-2-1b from Baikonur Cosmodrome on June 25, 2013 at 21:28 Moscow time.

Resurs-P space system is intended for high-resolution, detailed wide-swath and hyper-spectral optical electronic Earth imaging. This satellite is the second one (after Resurs-DK) in the Russian orbital constellation of the civil Earth remote sensing spacecraft with high level of resolution.

Resurs-P is aimed at solving following scientific and technical tasks:

– geographical, thematic and topographical mapping and maps updating;

– pollution control and environment degradation;

– inventory of natural resources and monitoring of national economy activities to support efficient functioning in various branches of economy;

– informational support for oil, natural gas, ore and other minerals fields finding;

– territory planning control, data provision for territory engineering evaluation in the interest of national economy;

– monitoring of water protection zones and nature reserves;

– ice conditions evaluation;

– monitoring of emergency areas to prevent natural disasters, accidents and catastrophes as well as evaluation of their consequences and recovery planning.

The obtained data can be used to develop international cooperation of Russia in the spheres of environment control and protection as well as to solve others actual tasks of the Earth observation.

Comparing to Resurs-DK satellite, Resurs-P is a qualitatively new spacecraft especially owing to the imaging equipment used. Implementation of the technical solutions acquired during Resurs-DK creation has become one of the main principles of Resurs-P space system developing. Resurs-DK capabilities in capture bandwidth and panchromatic and spectral ranges resolution have been kept. Number of narrow spectral ranges in which Resurs-P is going to work has been increased from 3 to 5. Resurs-P will operate at near-circular sun-synchronous orbit and this enables to substantially improve imaging capacity (comparing to Resurs-DK) of the satellite functioning at the elliptical orbit. New satellite can make imaging from one altitude and in identical conditions of light exposure. Observation periods are reduced from six to three days. Moreover, consumer properties and accuracy of fixation of the images transmitted to the Earth are improved; spacecraft dynamic characteristics are improved. Spacecraft active lifetime is increased from 3 to 5 years.

Performance characteristics of new spacecraft are increased due to the application of several types of imaging equipment. Resurs-P is equipped with optical electronics allowing to receive highly detailed images with resolution of 1m from altitude of 475 km in panchromatic range and in narrow spectral ranges with resolution of no worse than 3 – 4 m.

Two more types of imaging equipment are added to the configuration of Resurs-P: a hyper-spectral imaging equipment – GSA (designed by KMZ OAO) and a wide-swath multispectral imaging system – KSHMSA (designed by OPTEKS NPP, a subsidiary of TsSKB-Progress). Hyper-spectral equipment bandwidth is 25 km and resolution is about 25 m. Multispectral imaging system allows to take detailed wide-swath images with resolution of 12 m in a bandwidth of ~100 km, with resolution of 60 m in a bandwidth of ~440 km. Together with panchromatic images the simultaneous imaging in the fixed spectral ranges is provided.

This equipment increases a scope and quality of tasks fulfilled by the spacecraft in the interests of national economy.