Moscow: Russia has successfully launched a new military communication satellite, Xinhua reported.
Lt. Col. Alexei Zolotukhin, spokesman for the the Russian Space Forces, said a Meridian satellite, the fourth in a series, atop a Soyuz-2.1a rocket blasted off from the Plesetsk launching site in northern Russia at 2141 Moscow time Wednesday (1741 GMT), according to Itar-Tass news agency.
Apart from military uses, the Meridian-series satellites would also help in communications, navigation and surveillance for civilian customers.
Russia currently has over 100 satellites in orbit - two-thirds of them are for military or dual purposes.
IANS
First Published: Thursday, May 05, 2011, 12:29