Russia Regains Control of Newly Launched Monitor-E Satellite

Russianflight controllers have regained control of a small Earth-watching spacecraftthat suffered a communications glitch shortly after launching spacewardFriday.

Despite asuccessful launch atop a Rockot booster from Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome at2:34 p.m. EDT (1834 GMT) on Friday, flight controllers lost contact with theirMonitor-E satellite after it reached orbit, the Russian news agency Interfaxreported.

But hourslater contact was restored and the spacecraft in good health, Interfax stated.

"Acommunication session has been held and control has been regained of thesatellite," a source with Khrunichev StateResearch and Production Space Center, which developed Monitor-E, toldInterfax.

Accordingto the Khrunichev center, Monitor-E is an experimental satellite equipped withtwo optical-electronic cameras that will be used for remote sensing studies ofthe Earth.

Primaryscience targets for Monitor-E include surface mapping, studies of the effectsof pollution, as well as monitoring of emergency situations, such as natural orhuman-caused disasters.

The1,653-pound (750-kilogram) satellite is designed to fly 335 miles (540 kilometers) above Earth in a Sun-synchronousorbit for a mission lifetime of about five years, Khrunichev officials said.