Res Communis

Russia and Australia working toward space

by Sara M. Langston with the blog faculty

Source: Spatial Source

Russia and Australia are strengthening their co-operation on the exploration and use of outer space, the head of the international cooperation department at the Russian space agency Roskosmos, Alexei Korostelev, told Itar-Tass in an interview.

Russia and Australia signed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in exploration and peaceful uses of outer space back in 2001.

“We are currently working on a memorandum on support for a project to build differential corrections and monitoring stations of the global navigation space system (GLONASS) near the Australian city of Brisbane,” Korostelev said.

Korostelev also said that he recently signed off on a project for a joint international airspace monitoring system.

Australian organisations may also participate in other Russian scientific programs, such as putting Australian materials processing equipment on board the Russian segment of the International Space Station. [Full story]