Launch of 28 Russian Sputnix satellites from Vostochny due in late November

MOSCOW. Oct 10 (Interfax) - Sputnix has readied 28 satellites for delivery to the Vostochny cosmodrome, from where they will launched next month, the space company said in a statement on Thursday.

"The satellites created by the private Russian company Sputnix (part of Sitronics Group) are scheduled for launch into orbit atop the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket [which] is due to lift off from Vostochny in the Amur region in November," the statement said.

The company has prepared more than 20 SITRO-AIS satellites of the 3U Form Factor, designed for ship tracking in the World Ocean, and several satellites created under the Space-Pi federal project of the Innovation Assistance Foundation.

"The SITRO-AIS satellites are equipped with hardware for reception and transmission of Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals from ships for providing marine navigation monitoring, including on the Northern Sea Route. [...] After the launch the orbital group will consist of 52 satellites," the statement said.

"This launch of the satellites will be Sputnix' third this year and eighth over the past few years. Last year we produced more than 100 satellites, which are now gradually being taken into orbit," Sputnix' General Director Vladislav Ivanenko was quoted in the statement as saying.