On December 28, 2025, at 4:18 p.m. Moscow time, a Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle with a Fregat upper stage lifted off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome. As a secondary payload, it carried the Lobachevsky CubeSat, developed by Lobachevsky University and Geoscan and based on the Geoscan 16U satellite platform. Today, our mission control team received the satellite’s first signals and assumed operational control.
First Data Packets Received
The first telemetry packets were received at Geoscan’s ground station 3 hours after the launch. Telemetry data confirmed the status of key subsystems, including power supply system, communications, attitude determination and control system, and the onboard computer. The data included battery voltage, temperature and power consumption. All parameters transmitted by Lobachevsky remained within expected ranges, confirming the satellite’s readiness for operation.
Lobachevsky’s position in near-Earth orbit. The image also shows other Geoscan-developed small satellites currently under the team’s control
“Forty-six minutes after the satellite was activated in orbit, we conducted the first two-way communication session, during which we requested all essential telemetry to assess its condition,” said Geoscan small-satellite operations engineer Yegor Meltsov. “The data showed that all satellite parameters were within acceptable limits, allowing us to immediately begin operation. Once the satellite enters nominal operating mode, we will gradually activate the payloads and start receiving scientific data.”
The Lobachevsky Mission
Lobachevsky is an agro-ecological research satellite developed as part of “Agroecology: Satellite Monitoring of Forest Resources and Agricultural Crops” project. It carries a multispectral camera produced by JSC NPO Lepton and a hyperspectral camera developed by Samara National Research University named after Academician S.P. Korolev. Spectral imagery will be transmitted to Lobachevsky University, where specialists will process the data using an in-house hardware-software system. Based on the results, researchers will assess vegetation conditions across forested and agricultural areas in different regions of Russia.
Spectral imaging is well suited for monitoring vegetation health at all stages of growth. Unlike conventional visible-light imagery, these cameras capture reflected light across specific wavelength ranges, including the near-infrared spectrum – revealing characteristics not visible to the human eye.
Healthy plants exhibit distinct reflection patterns at different wavelengths. This is the underlying principle of the NDVI vegetation index, which enables clear differentiation between vegetation, soil, water and industrial surfaces. When plants experience stress caused by drought, damage, disease or nutrient deficiency, these reflection patterns change.
Spectral data can be used to assess vegetation density and condition, compare fields and regions, track changes in growth phases over time, evaluate agricultural practices, estimate crop maturity and forecast yields. The multispectral camera provides a set of key wavelength bands for routine monitoring, while the hyperspectral camera captures a much larger number of narrow bands, enabling more precise identification of vegetation changes and their causes.
“Lobachevsky is the second spacecraft developed by Geoscan using our new 16U satellite platform and the first satellite of this size for the Space-π project,” said Alexander Khokhlov, Head of Small Spacecraft Projects at Geoscan. “The project has already engaged young people in hands-on engineering and amateur radio activities during payload development. Now, with multispectral and hyperspectral imaging instruments available in orbit, flight testing will unlock new opportunities for practical work with satellite data. These capabilities will be accessible to students from several agricultural universities collaborating with Lobachevsky University, as well as school students in the Nizhny Novgorod region. This work was made possible with support from the Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises and personally from Ivan Mikhailovich Bortnik.”
Photo source: Artem Pylaev, Roscosmos Media and Vostochny Space Center
