MOSCOW, June 16. /TASS/. A radar satellites grouping, developed by the Novy Kosmos (New Space) private aerospace corporation will favor year-round navigation along the Northern Sea Route (NSR). Presently, ships have to book icebreakers a month in advance, which builds up costs and cuts cargo traffic, the company's CEO Anton Alekseev told TASS.
"One launched satellite will provide data on NSR with an efficiency of 2.5 days, and three satellites will cut this period to 14.7 hours. In the future, a grouping of 20 satellites will provide round-the-clock monitoring in query mode. We will be able to ensure the Northern Sea Route's year-round navigation," he said.
Radar satellites are used to see the ice situation in any weather and time, which is critically important for the Arctic, where the cloud cover may reach 80%, he added.
"Nowadays, companies have to pay significant amounts for the escort through ice. Our system will cut these costs and will favor increasing the cargo traffic to 220 million tons per annum, as it has been indicated in instructions of our president," he said.
The first Oculus satellite is due to be launched within three years.