• The mission represented the sixth Soyuz-2 launch from the Vostochny Spaceport in 2025 and Russia’s final orbital launch of the year.

• What? Russian rocket ‘Soyuz-2.1b’ launched 52 Satellites
• From: Vostochny Cosmodrome
• Key Payloads: Two Aist-2T satellites  and 50 smaller satellites
• Launch Booster: Fregat upper stage
• Purpose: Monitoring natural emergencies : fires, floods, volcanic eruptions
• Other Launch: Iranian Satellites Launched by Russia
• Satellites: Paya (150 kg), Kowsar (35 kg), Zafar-2
• Capabilities: Images up to 3 m resolution
• Mission: Water resource management, agriculture, environmental monitoring

Key Details:
Payload Details: The mission carried two Aist-2T Earth-observation satellites (Number-1 and Number-2) along with 50 small satellites developed by Russian universities under the Universat programme.
Aist-2T Earth-observation Satellites: The Aist-2T satellites, developed by the Progress Rocket and Space Centre under Roscosmos, are an upgraded version of the Aist-2D platform that was launched in 2016.

• These spacecraft perform stereoscopic Earth imaging, generating digital terrain models with a 1.2-meter(m) panchromatic resolution and 32 kilometer(km) swath width, and have a planned service life of at least five years.
• These satellites have been tasked to deliver stereoscopic images of Earth’s surface and create 3-Dimensional (3-D) models of the planet that will help in monitoring natural emergencies like: fires, floods, and volcanic eruptions.

Other 50 Satellites: These satellites are expected to serve scientific and technology requirements of companies based in Russia and its friendly states such as Iran, Belarus, Ecuador.

• Also, 50 other smaller satellites included CubeSats which will study climate change and space weather in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) for the Russian Hydrometeorological Service.

Russia Launches 3 Iranian Satellites:

Launches: In December 2025, Russia also launched 3 Iranian communication satellites that included Paya, Kowsar, and Zafar-2 into a 500 km orbit from the Vostochny Cosmodrome using a Soyuz rocket.

• Paya weighs 150 kilogram(kg), the heaviest satellite Iran has placed into orbit while Kowsar weighs 35 kg.

Mission: The satellites are capable of capturing images with up to 3 m resolution. Their mission encompasses management of water resources, agricultural monitoring, and environmental observation, with a planned operational lifespan of up to five years.
About Russia:
President-Vladimir Putin
Capital-Moscow
Currency-Russian Ruble (RUB)