MOSCOW, September 14. /TASS/. Russia’s state-run space corporation Roscosmos has declared a contest for the development of the space laboratory Arka, expected to produce high resolution images of the Sun, as follows from an announcement placed on the state purchases website.

The satellite will be meant for studying objects up to 100 kilometers in size within ranges that cannot be registered from the Earth’s surface. In particular, it may help scientists find out how solar flares emerge.

The yet-to-be developed observatory is to be put in an orbit no less than 500 kilometers high alongside the launch of another space vehicle.

Under the plan the satellite’s preliminary design is to be developed by November 2017. In 2018-2020 design documentation for the mock-ups and experimental samples is to be finalized and the mockups made and tested. In 2019-2023 test products are to be manufactured and tested comprehensively. The assembly of a flight sample of the Arka satellite and its experimental testing on the ground are due in 2021-2024. Its launch and flight tests are going to be held in 2021-2024.

Arka will become the first Russian solar studies satellite since the Koronas-Foton satellite, operational from February to November 2009, went out of order.