Gonets-M are an upgraded version of Gonets satellites, derived from military communications system Strela-3. Gonets-M constellation is tasked with monitoring ecological and industrial objects, providing communication and data transmission services, covering also the remote areas like the Far North region. Also onboard is the Skif-D demonstration satellite for the planned Russian Sfera LEO communication satellite constellation.
Soyuz-2, GRAU index 14A14, is the collective designation for the 21st-century version of the Russian Soyuz rocket. In its basic form, it is a three-stage carrier rocket for placing payloads into low Earth orbit. The first-stage boosters and two core stages feature uprated engines with improved injection systems, compared to the previous versions of the Soyuz. Digital flight control and telemetry systems allow the rocket to be launched from a fixed launch platform, whereas the launch platforms for earlier Soyuz rockets had to be rotated as the rocket could not perform a roll to change its heading in flight.
Progress Rocket Space Centre, formerly known as TsSKB-Progress, is a space science and aerospace research company which is known for manufacturing launch vehicles and satellites. Most notably, Progress Rocket Space Centre is the manufacturer of Soyuz launch vehicles.
INFO WIKIA Russian Soyuz rocket launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome at 3:57 p.m. EDT (1957 GMT) Saturday with three Gonets data relay payloads and a demonstrator spacecraft for a proposed constellation of Russian broadband internet satellites.