METEOR

The Soviet Meteor programme began in 1969 and each day it provided weather pictures for two thirds of the Earth's surface as well as information about the jet stream and other weather phenomena.

The Meteor 3 polar weather satellites family has counted eight satellites, including Meteor 3-5. Launched in 1991, it was the first Russian satellite carrying a U.S. instrument, TOMS (Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer). The latest satellite of the Meteor family, Meteor-M N1, is equipped with 7 tools useful for weather and environmental conditions analysis and forecasts.

altitude: 950 - 1213 km
inclination: 82,5 - 82,6 degrees
orbit: quasi polar sun-synchronous
orbit period: 101,45 minutes
service life: 17/09/2009 - operational

More information: Scientific Research Center "Planeta"