MOSCOW, June 6 (RIA Novosti) – A Russian microsatellite is having a communication problem but it is too soon to suggest it has been lost, a federal space agency representative said on Thursday.
The Roscosmos press service representative said attempts to reestablish contact with the Zond-PP (MKA-PN1) satellite will continue.
The Zond-PP has been in orbit for a year and has fulfilled all the missions assigned to it, he added.
A space industry source earlier told RIA Novosti the satellite may have stopped functioning.
Zond-PP is a microsatellite designed to study the Earth's surface with a panoramic radiometer, including characteristics such as soil moisture and water salinity. This data should help meteorologists build ocean circulation and climate dynamics models with a focus on energy exchange between land, the oceans and the atmosphere.
The Zond-PP was launched in July 2012 and was expected to operate for three years in an 820-km Sun-synchronous orbit, according to russianspaceweb.com.
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