Russia’s second biosatellite, Bion-M2, with mice, reptiles, insects, plants and microorganisms on board, is scheduled to launch in 2024, Oleg Orlov, head of the Institute for Biomedical Problems at the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Sputnik on Friday.
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Russia originally intended to launch this arc-shaped Noah satellite into orbit in early 2022, but then postponed its launch to 2023.
“The year 2024 is being discussed,” Orlov said on the sidelines of the Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX) when asked about the time of the Bion-M flight.
The first biosatellite, Bion-M, was launched into orbit in April 2013. The flight lasted a month and some of the animals on board died as a result of technical malfunctions. The mission of the second biosatellite is also expected to last a month, with the satellite being launched at an altitude of approximately 800 kilometers (500 miles) above the earth.
GLEX is an annual event that has been bringing together representatives from academia, government and industry since 2012. This year’s edition started on Monday in the Russian city of St. Petersburg and ends on Friday.
Cooperation between Russia and Tunisia in space
Previously, after the launch of the first Tunisian satellite on board the Russian Soyuz launcher, space cooperation had become a topic of growing interest in Russia and Tunisia this year, Tunisian ambassador Tarak Ben Salem told Sputnik.
File image: Canopus-B.- Wikimedia Commons
“The aerospace cooperation is now the subject of special interest, especially after the launch of the Tunisian Challenge ONE satellite on March 22nd by the Russian Soyuz-2 rocket from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and the agreement to this cooperation by establishing “a center for aerospace technologies and science in Tunisia,” said the ambassador.
The first domestically produced Tunisian satellite Challenge ONE was inaugurated in 2019. The start date on March 22nd coincided with Tunisia’s Independence Day. Tunisian aerospace and telecommunications company Telnet has signed a contract with Russia’s Glavkosmos Launch Services, the operator of commercial Soyuz-2 launches, for a total of 30 Tunisian satellites to be launched by 2023.
According to Ben Salem, Tunisia’s President Kais Saied wanted Russia to help train the first Tunisian female astronaut. Russian state-owned space company Roskosmos recently announced that it is negotiating a space flight to the International Space Station on board a Soyuz spacecraft from representatives from four countries, including Tunisia.
The Tunisian diplomat also stressed that there were several areas of common concern where Tunisia and Russia could work together.
“The next session of the [Russian-Tunisian Intergovernmental] The Commission, which will be held in Moscow later this year, will hopefully be a good opportunity to discuss new areas of cooperation and enrich the legal framework through the signing of several other cooperation programs in the fields of health, education, sport, culture and the environment “, he said.
Tunisia and Russia can work together on many areas, including rail and maritime infrastructure projects, agricultural development and tourism investments, the ambassador said, adding that countries can join forces in the fight against pollution as well.
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