The Russian Soyuz-ST-A launch vehicle with Fregat upper stage has successfully placed a French double-purpose satellite, Pleiades-1B, in the final orbit, the press service of the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) told Interfax-AVN on Sunday.

"At 0658 Moscow time [on Sunday] the land remote sensing satellite Pleiades-1B successfully separated from Fregate upper stage," a press officer said.

It was the fourth takeoff off Soyuz from Kourou space center. The first launch of a Russian LV from the French space center took place on October 21, 2011.

Pleiades-1B is the second satellite in the series. Its monitoring equipment permits taking images of the surface of the Earth with a resolution of 50 cm. The data from the satellite will be fed mainly to the Defense Ministries of France and Spain as well as other government institutions.

The satellite has takeoff weight of 1,000 kilos and operating life of five years on a solar synchronized at the altitude of 694 kilometers and inclination of 98.2 degrees.

Pleiades-1A was launched from Kourou on December 16, 2011 with a Soyuz LV. The dual-purpose land remote sensing system will consist of four vehicles - two Pleiades and two SPOT satellites.