Belarus, Russia to agree on orbital positions of satellites soon

Representatives of the communications administrations of Belarus and Russia plan to find a solution to the issue concerning the coordination of the Belarusian satellite Belintersat 1’s future orbital position with the current orbital position of the Russian heavy satellite Express AM6, the press service of the Belarusian Information Technologies and Communications Ministry told BelTA after a conference on coordinating civilian satellite networks took place in Moscow.

During the meeting Russia was represented by Minister of Telecom and Mass Communications Nikolai Nikiforov, representatives of the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media, Russian Satellite Communication Company, and the Radio Frequency Service. Belarus was represented by First Deputy Information Technologies and Communications Minister Dmitry Shedko, First Deputy Chairman of the State Defense Industries Committee Igor Bykov, and representatives of the Belarusian enterprise Precision Electromechanics Factory.

According to Dmitry Shedko, the successful implementation of the Belintersat 1 project is of great importance for Belarus. “On the basis of many years of our fruitful cooperation in the area of communications we will be able to find a solution regarding the coordination of the satellites,” the press service quoted the official as saying.

In turn, the Russian Minister of Telecom and Mass Communications noted that the sides would have to come up with a mutually acceptable compromise solution soon. “I am confident that work at the level of the heads of communications administrations of Russia and Belarus will allow securing considerable progress in the matter,” said Nikolai Nikiforov during the meeting.

The Belarusian satellite Belintersat 1 is supposed to be inserted into the orbital position at 51.5 degrees eastern latitude in Q1 2016. At present the Russian heavy satellite Express AM6 occupies a geostationary orbit position at 53 degrees eastern latitude. Technical coordination of the two satellites is needed for their successful operation.