The Center of Space Monitoring at the Southern Federal University (SFU) in Russia, recently received the first data from the Russian medium resolution ‘Meteor-M’ No. 1 satellite.

ScanEX Research & Development Center (RDC) has been working to develop cooperation between the Federal Space Agency and the academic community, in order to better introduce satellite observation technology into the scientific and educational process.

The outcome of this work came in the Russian space agency, Roscosmos’, recent decision to grant Russian universities access to space-based information acquired from national remote sensing spacecrafts. This decision was made on March 27, 2013 at the meeting of the University Geoportals (UNIGEO) Consortium members, held at the Lomonosov Moscow State University.

Comprehensive work on testing and adaptation of Roscosmos products for use by university receiving stations was also done by employees of ScanEx RDC, because the university space data receiving stations are equipped mainly with ‘UniScan’ antenna complexes produced by ScanEx RDC.

To be able to receive the Earth observation data, Rector of the SFU, Marina Borovskaya, was required to sign three agreements: one with the Federal Space Agency to grant the right to use Earth remote sensing data; another with JSC “Russian Corporation of Rocket and Space Instrumentation and Information Systems” on the user maintenance of ground data reception stations; and, finally, one to get the right to use signals decryption software. As a result, SFU became the first of the UNIGEO Consortium members to receive information from the Russian “Meteor-M” No. 1.

Currently, the “Meteor-M” No. 1 spacecraft is in a test mode by the Center of Space Monitoring of the Southern Federal University. The new source of 60 m, medium-resolution remote sensing data will be useful in solving many problems of land use, environmental protection, monitoring of emergencies, and tasks relevant to other industries in the southern Russia.