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Russia halts dialogue with Chile on station for monitoring outer space

According to the deputy director-general at the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos, Chile lacks the authority with respective government powers on fulfilling the provisions of an inter-governmental agreement on space

MOSCOW, February 2. /TASS/. The Russian-Chilean talks on deploying a station of the automated warning system on hazardous situations in outer space (ASPOS OKP) have been temporarily suspended, Deputy Director General for International Cooperation at the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos Sergey Savelyev told TASS.

"Currently, the Russian-Chilean dialogue, including on the issues of deploying a station of ASPOS OKP, has been temporarily suspended," Savelyev said.

According to the deputy director-general, Chile lacks the authority with respective government powers on fulfilling the provisions of an inter-governmental agreement on space. "The timeframe of creating a national space agency has not been announced and ahead of the presidential election in Chile in 2021 could be significantly postponed," he noted.

The automated warning system on hazardous situations in outer space (ASPOS OKP) has been operating since 2016. According to information published on the government procurements portal in 2019, the optical-electronic facility in Chile was expected to be commissioned by the third quarter of 2020. Such facilities in an automatic mode detect spacecraft and space debris.

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