He Deep-Space Communication Center near the city of Yevpatoria, located in Crimea, will be reconstructed by 2020 to enable the reception of scientific data from the Russian-German Spektr-RG astrophysics space observatory
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd April, 2019) The Deep-Space Communication Center near the city of Yevpatoria, located in Crimea, will be reconstructed by 2020 to enable the reception of scientific data from the Russian-German Spektr-RG astrophysics space observatory, the Lavochkin Research and Production Association's deputy director general, Alexander Shirshakov said on Tuesday.
"We are starting work on its restoration, and we believe that by 2020, the antenna for scientific data reception can become operational," Shirshakov said at a meeting of the Russian academy of Sciences.
He specified that this would enable 24-hour communication with the observatory.
The Deep-Space Communication Center was opened in 1960. After the Soviet Union collapse, the Crimean peninsula, where the center is located, became Ukrainian territory. However, the peninsula rejoined Russia following a referendum in 2014, and the center became part of the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces. Since only one of the three antennas of the center was operational as of 2014, restoration efforts were launched.
