OREANDA-NEWS. October 20, 2008. The 2008-2012 Belarusian space research and peaceful exploration programme (the national space programme) has been approved by Council of Ministers resolution No 1517, 2008. The National Academy of Sciences of Belarus is the state customer and coordinator of the programme, reported the Official website www.government.by.

The Forestry Ministry, Education Ministry, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry, Emergencies Ministry, the State Defence Industries Committee, the State Property Committee, the Operative Analysis Centre under the President of the Republic of Belarus will be involved in implementing subprogrammes of the national space programme.

In the near future they should work out, agree and forward plans of actions to be taken to implement the subprogrammes to the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.

The programme mainly aims for space efforts meant to advance the Belarusian economy and satisfy the demand of state agencies and citizens of Belarus for space information.

The design of earth remote sensing satellites and prospective spacecraft technologies are among the main goals of the programme. Surface-mounted infrastructure will be created to receive, process, distribute space data and control spacecraft. There are plans to develop information space technologies and assimilate them in various areas of social and economic activities. The programme is designed with the country’s economic potential in mind and taking into account budget and extrabudget funds.