NASB: Conceptual design of Russia-Belarus satellite ready

MINSK, 8 April (BelTA) – The date for the launch of the Russian-Belarusian satellite has not been yet determined, Sergei Zolotoi, Director of the R&D enterprise Geoinformation Systems of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB), chief designer of the Belarusian system for the remote sensing of Earth, told a press conference on 8 April, BelTA has learned.

“There are plans to defend the conceptual design of the second satellite. After it the date for its launch will be determined. The technical work has been completed. Everything, however, has come to a halt due to the global situation that we can see today. We hope the situation will change in the near future,” said Sergei Zolotoi.

According to Chief of Staff of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus Piotr Vityaz, successful cooperation with Russian collegues helped us develop of a new satellite with a higher resolution (0.35m). “The conceptual design has been completed. Soon we will move on to the working design. The second satellite will guarantee us a competitive presence on the world market of space technologies for Earth remote sensing,” he stressed.

As for the acting Belarusian satellite, it has been in orbit for almost eight years already. The back-up systems are in good order and fuel reserve is sufficient fuel. “We hope that the satellite will serve us for a long time,” added Sergei Zolotoi.