Belarus will be a space nation – this message came from Alyaksandr Lukashenka on 2 February during his meeting with state officials. Namely, Belarus will develop satellites, which will be able to monitor the face of the Earth. Belarus plants (which dealt with weapon production in the Soviet time) should be modernized so that they can provide services to the firms, specializing in satellite construction. The first Belarusian satellite should cost about $18 mln. and be ready for launch in 2,5 – 4,5 years.
However, the meeting brought up more questions than answers. Here are the most important of them:
Should Belarus develop a satellite similar to “BelKA” or develop a new one, which will be able to provide detailed images of the planet’s surface?
Should there be one satellite, or several of them?
Should Belarus develop its own space mission center, or rely on the center in Russia?
Who should be the partner of Belarus in this difficult task?
Allegedly, France already offered its services in launching the new satellite. Interesting, that France is also being considered as a country, which will help Belarus to build its first nuclear power plant in the future (another cheaper but less reliable possibility is Russia).
Lukashenka stressed, that the new satellite should not just be an image project, but also bring money – Belarus will sell the information, collected with the help of the satellite, to foreign customers.
