Russia’s VNIIEM Corporation (Research and Production Corporation Space Monitoring Systems, Information and Control and Electromechanical Complexes) signed a memorandum in mid-June, in French Le Bourget, with the Belarusian National Academy of Sciences’ Geoinformation Systems enterprise. The director of Geoinformation Systems, Sergey Zolotoy, tells us, “A joint venture will allow us to apply Russian experience to the distribution of materials from the Belarusian satellite, across Russian and foreign markets for space technology and services.”
At present, the Belarusian-Russian integrated space system includes the Russian satellite Canopus-B and the Belarusian Space Apparatus (BKA). These photograph the Earth’s surface to within 2m accuracy, across a range of 20km. Another Belarusian satellite and two Russian are soon to be launched.
Belarus launched its remote Earth sensing satellite in July 2012 from Baikonur cosmodrome (Kazakhstan), allowing complete coverage of Belarus from space. The data has many applications domestically and can be sold abroad to generate revenue. The Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation of Nepal is already among those having purchased data.
