Belarusian space program to develop remote sensing technologies

The Belarusian space program designed to run in 2013-2017 will contribute to the development of technologies for the remote sensing of the Earth, BelTA learned from Oleg Semenov, Deputy Chief Designer of the Belarusian space system for the remote sensing of the Earth, Chief Engineer of the enterprise Geoinformation Systems of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.

Thanks to the space program a multilayer system for the remote sensing of the Earth will be established in order to constantly develop the technologies that have been worked out using data of the remote sensing system and data sent by the Belarusian satellite, said Oleg Semenov.

Various agencies use the data sent by the Belarusian remote sensing satellite. For instance, methods have been worked in addition to the hardware and the technology to keep an eye on the state of forests and estimate the number of trees damaged by unfavorable natural and climatic conditions. The Amelioration Institute uses Belarusian satellite data to monitor agricultural lands. For the Emergencies Ministry an experimental software complex has been worked out to detect emergencies at petrochemical industry and gas industry facilities.

Oleg Semenov also said that customers have no complaints about the quality of images made by the Belarusian satellite. Consumers are satisfied, said the Chief Engineer of the enterprise Geoinformation Systems.

The Belarusian space system for the remote sensing of the Earth is now in test operation phase. The system is fully functional and can deliver data sent by the Belarusian satellite BKA and other ones to customers. The system is supposed to go commercial by the end of the year.