Russia's new generation Earth observation Resurs-PM series satellite will have first flight tests in 2020, Roscosmos Director of Automatic Space Complexes Department Kirill Borisov said on Monday.

According to the presentation made by Borisov, Resurs-PM2, Resurs-PM3 and Resurs-PM4 will be launched in 2021, 2023 and 2024, respectively as part of the Earth observation satellites update program.

"The first satellite of the next generation with improved equipment will undergo flight tests in 2020," Borisov said at the conference held at the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Resurs-PM satellites will be the successors of the Resurs-P remote-sensing satellites designed to provide high-resolution imagery of the Earth surface that are used by Russia's ministries of agriculture, meteorology, transportation, emergencies, natural resources and defense.