Photo:Xinhua

The Russian Aerospace Forces on Friday successfully launched a Rokot carrier rocket with a retroreflector BLITS-M satellite and a group of Gonets-M communications satellites, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The launch was carried out at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia's northwestern Arkhangelsk region, it added.

The Gonets satellite system, the operator of Russian satellite communication and relaying systems made by order of the state space corporation Roscosmos, said in a separate statement that three Gonets-M satellites were launched.

Since its first launch in May 2000, Russian Aerospace Forces have conducted 31 launches of the Rokot rocket, putting into orbit some 70 spacecraft, the ministry said.

BLITS-M (Ball Lens in the Space) is a series of small satellites used for laser ranging experiments.