Russian Space Agency to Help Launch Moscow University Second Satellite
Text of report by Russian news agency Interfax-AVN website
Moscow, 23 April: The chancellor of the Moscow State University, Viktor Sadovnichiy, and head of the Russian Federal Space Agency Anatoliy Perminov signed a contract on developing and orbiting Tatyana-2 satellite.
“As far as Tatyana-2 satellite is concerned, I promise full support for it and we intend to take part in its development,” Perminov said, signing the contract. According to him, the satellite will be manufactured by the NIEM and the TsNII Mash research and development institutes, while the scientific instruments will be designed by the Moscow University. In addition to that the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI) and the Bauman Institute of Technology have also expressed a wish to take part in developing the satellite instruments.
Perminov said that the launch vehicle which is to take the satellite into orbit, would be determined in the near future. Because Tatyana-2 will be a modern light satellite, it could be orbited independently, rather than as a payload, as was the case with first Tatyana satellite,” he said. Perminov noted that the launch date will depend on the production schedule, but that the parties concerned would try it to coincide with St Tatyana’s Day [patron saint of students].
Under the agreement on joint research and development and educational cooperation, signed by the Moscow State University and the Russian Federal Space Agency, such cooperation will be carried in several areas, including astrophysics, solar physics and the influence of solar activity on the Earth, as well as research into physical, chemical, and biological vital functions in space, and studies of medical, biological, and psychological problems facing for the man’s functioning in deep space exploration and other tasks.
In addition, the Moscow State University has agreed to train specialists for the Russian space industry. “We may even establish a separate corporate space research department for training personnel for the Russian Federal Space Agency,” Sadovnichiy said.
The university also suggested working out a programme of developing and launching student-designed satellites, involving students from other universities, and employing its equipment, mounted on several satellites, for radioactive monitoring of the Earth.
Tatyana satellite, developed and manufactured by the Polet Production Association, was orbited by the Kosmos-3M launch vehicle on January 20, 2005. It was designed for measuring atmospheric ultraviolet emissions and registering electronic protons in the upper atmosphere. The link with Tatyana satellite was lost in mid- March.
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