Russia and Brazil may expand space cooperation — Putin

MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/. Russia and Brazil are studying the possibilities of expanding their cooperation in the space sphere, Russian President Vladimir Putin said after negotiations with President of Brazil Michel Temer on Wednesday.

"A possibility is being studied for joint launches from the Brazilian cosmodrome and the joint production of small- and medium-class carrier rockets," Putin said.

"There are ideas for developing cooperation in the sphere of the Earth’s remote probing," the Russian leader said, noting that Russia and Brazil were already closely cooperating in space exploration.

"An electro-optic complex has been opened on the territory of Brazil for detecting space debris and four ground-based stations of Russia’s Glonass global navigation system are in operation," Putin said.

The head of the Russian state also noted other possibilities for interaction in hi-tech spheres. "We consider as promising the work for the support of existing and the creation of new technological alliances," he said. "One of such alliances has been established by the Skolkovo [hi-tech hub] fund and the Brazilian Technopark innovation center," Putin said.

Temer expressed interest in expansion of the network of GLONASS stations on the territory of his country.

"We assessed positively the experience of creating the stations of the Russian GLONASS system in Brazil, and we, for our part, expressed interest in expanding the network of these stations," he said.

GLONASS is a space-based satellite navigation system. It provides an alternative to GPS and is the second navigational system in operation with global coverage and of comparable precision.

Currently, the GLONASS constellation consists of 27 satellites, of which 24 are operational (distributed in three orbital planes, with eight satellites per plane), one satellite in each plane is under the chief designer’s study, in-orbit spare and in the flight test phase.