MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/. Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos has decided to extend the work of RadioAstron space observatory until the end of 2018, according to a press release of the Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences obtained by TASS on Tuesday.
"We’re glad to share the news that Roscosmos has extended the work of RadioAstron until the end of 2018," the press release said.
According to the Lebedev Physical Institute, the fourth year of the Russian space observatory’s open program of observations will begin in July 2016. During the past period, 11 projects were selected for implementation.
"The leaders of applications accepted for implementation are three representatives of Russia, two from the Netherlands and one from Spain, Japan, South Africa and the United States each. As many as about 155 persons are the co-authors of the applications and represent 19 countries. The largest number of the applications' co-authors comes from Russia, followed by the United States, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy and others," the press release said.
RadioAstron comprises a space radio-telescope mounted on the Spektr-R satellite orbited in 2011 and a network of ground-based radio-telescopes.