OREANDA-NEWS. Three Gonets-M satellites designed and built by the Reshetnev Company were delivered to orbit in the recent launch from the Plesetsk cosmodrome on July 3, 2014.

Gonets-M satellites №№18, 19, 20 lifted off from the launch site aboard a Rockot / Breeze-KM rocket. Ground controllers at the mission control center located in Zheleznogorsk confirm that the satellites are in good health and their mechanical subsystems have deployed normally. Gonets-M satellites have successfully completed Earth- and Sun-acquisition phases.

Three satellites of the Gonets-M series augmented the orbital constellation of the personal satellite communications system GONETS-D1M which now comprises 9 satellites. It's planned that the system will reach its full operational capability of 12 spacecraft in 2015.

Gonets-M satellites were developed and manufactured by ISS-Reshetnev Company under a government contract which is part of the Federal State Program for the years 2006-2015. They are intended to provide communications in remote regions, in emergency-stricken areas, as well as assist in environmental and industrial monitoring.