Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 23 June (BelTA) – Belarus’ accomplishments in space industry have been secured via tight cooperation with the Russian space agency Roscosmos. Prime Minister of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov made the statement as he met with Roscosmos head Igor Komarov on 23 June, BelTA has learned.

Andrei Kobyakov stressed: “Belarus has the scientific and manufacturing potential as well as the experience of creating R&D deliverables for space applications. I have to mention the fact that our country has secured significant accomplishments in the area of space industry via tight cooperation with Roscosmos.”

Roscosmos and the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus signed a protocol on 23 June as a result of the Roscosmos delegation’s visit to Minsk. “The protocol’s implementation will allow successfully continuing cooperation in the sphere of space,” said Andrei Kobyakov.

The Roscosmos head remarked that the protocol had been supposed to be signed within 7-10 days after the visit started. “But the colleagues worked effectively and handled all the matters within a very short period of time. We have already signed all the necessary documents,” said Igor Komarov.

A number of space-related programs of the Union State of Belarus and Russia are in progress. Andrei Kobyakov remarked that considerable accomplishments had been secured in the area of space activities thanks to results of such interaction. Apart from that, a high level of business cooperation has been enabled between Belarusian and Russian organizations in the production sector, science, and education. Many R&D results match the world level and contribute to the growth of the competitive ability of Belarusian space products. Those are core equipment for remote sensing satellites, microelectronics and electronics components, software and hardware solutions for the digital processing of space data and other R&D deliverables.

“The service life of the satellite that was put into orbit in summer 2012 has a limit. It is time to think about renewing the space component of the system while improving its qualities. The renewal is supposed to be implemented as part of existing cooperation schemes between Belarus and Russia,” said Andrei Kobyakov. Apart from that, the Prime Minister of Belarus added that the Belarusian State University is busy creating a nanosatellite, which they plan to insert into orbit with assistance of the Russian side.