Astro Watch : The Aist-2 earth remote sensing satellite assembled by students will be among the first spacecraft to be launched into space on board a Soyuz-2 launch vehicle from the Vostochny space center in the Amur region, Russia, says Sergei Tyulevin, first deputy CEO of the Progress state research and production rocket space center. Aist-2 satellite will measure the geomagnetic field, test the new small space vehicle bus, test methods to decrease microaccelerations to a minimum level and measure micrometeoroids of natural and artificial origin."In 2013, we started implementing a project of creating high-technology production of minor spacecraft and the construction of the Aist-2 earth remote sensing satellite along with the Samara Aerospace University. We plan to launch this spacecraft as part of the payload on board our Soyuz-2 launch vehicle from the Vostochny space center in the fourth quarter of 2015," Tyulevin said at a conference in the run-up to the ILA Berlin Air Show attended by chiefs of European aerospace companies at the trade and economy office of the Russian Embassy to Germany.Two experimental Aist satellites launched into space in April and December 2013 are in orbit now. The first minor spacecraft Aist-2 is supposed to be built by 2015.Credit: ...