MEXICO CITY, April 29. /TASS/. A treaty governing exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes between Russia and Nicaragua was ratified on Wednesday by the Central American country's parliament.
National Assembly President Rene Nunez said that parliamentarians, therefore, approved Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s urgent request.
The use of Russian satellites "exclusively for peaceful and civilian purposes" will allow Nicaragua "to obtain important scientific data", deputy Jose Figueroa said, adding that this referred particularly to climate change and measure to prevent climate extremes and natural disasters.
The two countries in 2012 signed an agreement to build in Nicaragua ground-based stations for managing and controlling Russia's GLONASS satellite network.
GLONASS is Russia’s global navigation satellite system similar to US’ GPS used for real-time positioning and providing speed data for surface, sea and airborne objects.
Russia has been developing GLONASS since 1976 on instructions from the Defence Ministry. The first GLONASS satellite was launched into orbit in 1982. In 1993, the initial system of 12 satellites was formally declared operational and in December 1995, the constellation was finally brought to its optimal status of 24 operational satellites, enabling full global coverage.
The system currently comprises 28 satellites, including 24 operational spacecraft, three spares, and one platform in a flight testing phase.