Within five years Ukraine plans to join the European Space Agency (ESA) and create its own satellite constellation of seven crafts. The Chairman of the State Space Agency (SSAU) Volodymyr Taftai told about this on the air of the TV channel Pershyi Dilovyi (First Business).
The satellites will be focused on remote sensing, that is, to obtain images of the Earth's surface from space. "An unauthorized use of forests, deforestation, use of water resources, and fires can be prevented. with the help of satellites, information can be obtained faster when the problem is just beginning," the official said.
In particular, the Sich-2-30 satellite will be ready in October and will be launched in December 2021. The launch will take place from the launch pad of the American company SpaceX by its own carrier rocket.
The satellite has already been assembled and is being tested. This is one of the joint projects with ESA.
The agency also plans to create a Ukrainian cosmodrome.
To implement the plans, SSAU needs 15 billion UAH for five years.
Context. Earlier, Taftai told why Sich-2-1 was renamed into Sich-2-30—because it is planned to launch it in the year of the 30th anniversary of Ukraine's independence. If the launch takes place, it will be the first for Ukraine in the last 10 years.
The resolution of the satellite equipment on the ground will be about 8 meters.
In April of this year, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the basic conditions for the project implementation for the launching the Sich-2-1 satellite and determined the sources of funding: the state budget and funds for the Cyclone-4 project.
Work on the Sich-2-1 assembling began in 2013 as part of the implementation of the National Target Scientific and Technical Space Program of Ukraine for 2013—2017.
In 2015, Yuzhnoye Design Office undertook to manufacture Sich-2-1 using its own funds in the amount of 98 million UAH.
Taftai said that the total cost of the Sich 2-30 launch by Elon Musk's SpaceX will be $1.99 million.
Ukraine already had its own spacecraft in orbit: the Sich-1 and Sich-2 optical remote sensing satellites and the Okean-O radar satellites. These spacecraft were launched into space between 1995 and 2011.
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