Russia's Progress M-23M resupply spacecraft is due to get undocked on Tuesday from the International Space Station (ISS) and embark on an autonomous scientific flight to study the impact of its engines on the plasma of the Earth's ionosphere.

"An experiment titled 'Radar-Progress' is scheduled to be held on board the Progress [spacecraft] from July 22 to August 1, it is connected to the studies by earth-based observatories on the light-reflecting capacity of plasma heterogeneities generated by propulsion systems in the ionosphere," a source in the Russian mission control center told RIA Novosti.

Another Progress cargo ship is to be launched on July 24. It will bring 45 snails to the ISS for a scientific experiment, which will see how space flight influences morphological and electrophysiological properties of a biological object's regeneration process, Russian space agency Roscosmos said last week.

The unmanned spaceship will also deliver fuel, food, water and oxygen for the crew, as well as scientific equipment. The Soyuz-U carrier rocket will put the new Progress M-24M ship into orbit on July 24, at 1:44 a.m. Moscow time.

A total of 130 Progress spacecraft have supported orbiting outposts over the past three decades, lifting many tons of supplies to low Earth orbit.