Russia launches earthquake satellite
Spaceflight Now: A Russian submarine has launched Complex Orbital Magneto-Plasma Autonomous Small Satellite 2 (COMPASS 2). The 180-pound microsatellite, managed by the Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere, and Radio Waves Propagation (IZMIRAN), will study earthquakes and other natural disasters.
The five instruments onboard from Russia, Poland, Sweden, Hungary, and Ukraine, will probe the Earth's underground lithosphere, atmosphere, ionosphere, and magnetosphere to learn how each terrestrial region is connected with a variety of events such as earthquakes, volcanoes, tropical cyclones, and tornadoes.
