Russia plots to launch 10 space surveillance systems in next two years
RUSSIA is plotting to launch more than 10 pioneering new surveillance systems to detect foreign objects in space before 2020
Russia will launch 10 new systems into space
The laser-optician and radio complexes will be set up by 2020, according to Commander of the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces Alexander Golovko.
He told Russian state media TASS: "There are plans to set up more than 10 new laser-optical and radio complexes in Russia before 2020 that would detect and identify space objects.”
The commander added that Space Forces continue work to create new-generation space surveillance systems.
And Mr Golovko added the first new-generation laser-optical space surveillance complex is already operating in the Altay Region.
Space Forces continue work to create new-generation space surveillance systems
The announcement was made as Russia celebrates Space Troops Day today, in commemoration of the launch of the first PS-1 man-made earth satellite.
The first space vehicle was launched on October 4, 1957, from Scientific Research Test Range Number 5 by the Sputnik rocket that was designed on the basis of the R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile.
It comes a week after it was revealed Russia will team up with the United States to build the moon’s first space station.
As part of a long-term project to send humans to Mars, the Nasa-led programme will see the two countries working together to create a crewed spaceport orbiting the moon.
New international space station to be built in the orbit of the moon
The Russian space agency Roscosmos announced a cooperation agreement had been signed at an astronautical congress in Adelaide.
A statement said: “The partners intend to develop international technical standards which will be used later, in particular to create a space station in lunar orbit.”
Igor Komarov, Roscosmos’s general director, said no fewer than five countries were building their own rockets and systems.
He said: “To avoid future problems over technical cooperation, part of the standards should be unified – for a possibility for various countries to work on their craft and dock to the international lunar station.”