"The launch of Proton-M space rocket with Blok DM-03 upper stage and a scientific laboratory Spektr-RG is planned for the first 10 days of April 2019," the source said.
The Spektr-RG observatory will be the first Russian space apparatus to be placed at Lagrange point L2, an orbital location where gravitational forces of the Moon and Earth balance out a centrifugal force of a smaller third body, such as a space observatory, stabilizing it. The observatory is expected to stay at L2 for seven years – it will survey the whole sky for four years and monitor the most interesting targets to be found during its mission over the remaining three years.
The observatory is fitted with Russian-made ART-XC and German-made eROSITA telescopes.
READ MORE: Roscosmos Interested in US Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway Project — Head
