The Resurs-P Earth observation satellite is due to be launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on June 23, a spaceport representative told Interfax-AVN.

"That will be the first launch along the so-called "northern trajectory" this year. Kazakhstan approves each one of these missions individually. So far it has granted consent to three of the four "northern trajectory" missions requested by Russia in 2013," the source said.

Russia wishes to launch three Earth observation satellites, Resurs-P, Kondor and Kondor-E, and the Meteor-M-2 weather satellite.

The time for launching a Soyuz-2.1b rocket with Resurs-P is 9:38 p.m. Moscow time.

The launch was initially planned for November 2012 but delayed indefinitely because of the Kazakh refusal to permit the "northern trajectory" mission.

Samara CSKB-Progress built Resurs-P for observing the Earth and transmitting data to a ground station over the radio.

Compared with Resurs-DK launched in 2006, the new satellite has seven instead of three narrow spectral bands. It can do hyper-spectral and stereo filming with the precision of ten to 15 meters. The satellite's service life is increased from three to five years.