MOSCOW, February 10. /TASS/. Six Russian Soyuz-2 carrier rockets to be launched in 2023-2025 can carry secondary payload in the form of CubeSat micro satellites, according to Glavkosmos, a subsidiary of Russia’s state-run space corporation Roscosmos.

The first launch of this kind, with secondary payload spots already booked, is scheduled for the second quarter of 2023.

However, five more rocket launches are still available to contractors willing to send more of their CubeSat satellites to the orbit: two launches between the fourth quarter of 2023 and the second quarter of 2024, one in the third and one in the fourth quarter of 2024 and one in the period between the fourth quarter of 2024 and the second quarter of 2025.

According to Glavkosmos, more than 170 small satellites from 22 countries were orbited in line with previous contracts. The launches took place from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, Vostochny in Russia’s Far East and Plesetsk in northwestern Russia.

The CubeSat is a format of ultra-small satellites having dimensions of 10x10x10 cm and weighing no more than 1.33 kg. Their creation became possible thanks to the development of microminiaturization and the use of general industrial microelectronics. CubeSat specifications were developed in 1999 by California Polytechnic State University and Stanford University to simplify the creation of ultra-small satellites.