MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/. Russia intends to launch the Milky Way project this year to ensure space activity safety in near-Earth space, Roscosmos Executive Director for Long-Term Programs and Science Alexander Bloshenko said at a meeting of BRICS space agency chiefs on Thursday.
"The Milky Way system is envisaged as an open undertaking from the very outset and Roscosmos is ready to offer its BRICS partners to join it through an open information platform. We are planning its launch by the end of this year," the Roscosmos official said.
The open information platform is a system of space international monitoring, he explained.
"Our partners will be able both to receive services and offer their products," he added.
Roscosmos believes that this project will bolster the BRICS status as a participant in the safe space activity, he added.
"In the future, such a platform could become a link for information exchange between our countries. We have sent out a draft protocol for BRICS countries and offer to set up a joint working group and elaborate a plan of action - a work map," the Roscosmos official said.
The upgraded automated warning system will comprise 65 telescopes, and a space segment. As Bloshenko told TASS earlier, the space segment will embrace a cluster of specialized near-Earth space monitoring satellites. The launch of the first space vehicle is scheduled for 2027.