Press releases

MINSK, 10 September (BelTA) – Belarusian scientists are busy setting up an enterprise to make optics for outer space, BelTA learned from Oleg Penyazkov, Director of the A.V. Lykov Heat and Mass Transfer Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, on the sidelines of the 31^st planetary congress of the Association of Space Explorers in Minsk on 10 September.

Oleg Penyazkov said: “By custom, our institute deals with a number of tasks relating to space exploration. For many years we’ve tested the heat insulation of modules, which have to land on Solar system planets. We develop unique equipment for making high-quality optical devices for outer space such as telescopes and mirrors. We offer computational simulation of spacecraft flights. We work with motors, including rocket ones. Now we are setting up an optical center, a line to make space telescope mirrors out of silicone carbide. It is a new material, which allows drastically improving the quality and weight of optical equipment, which is inserted into orbit. We are also working on new methods for computational simulation of spacecraft flights.”

The 31^st planetary congress of the Association of Space Explorers (ASE) is taking place in Minsk on 9-15 September. The ASE is an international not-for-profit organization created in 1985 to share the best practices in the area of manned space flights. Every year the ASE planetary congress gathers cosmonauts and astronauts as well as representatives of research institutions and national space agencies.