President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy watched online the launch of the Ukrainian Sich-2-30 satellite from the launch site at Cape Canaveral in Florida (USA).
Together with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the launch was monitored by Head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov, First Vice President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Volodymyr Horbulin and Head of the National Space Management and Testing Center Volodymyr Prysiazhny.
This spacecraft is a modified version of the Sich-2 satellite. It was launched into the orbit of the Earth by SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch vehicle. The last launch of the Ukrainian satellite took place more than 10 years ago.
"I believe that this is the beginning of a new phase of our country's space program. Thanks to the Ukrainian Sich-2-30 satellite we will receive information not only from our partners, but also our own. This is very important," the President stressed.
Kostiantyn Bilousov, chief designer and head of the design bureau of spacecraft, measurement and telecommunications systems at the Pivdenne Design Bureau, said that Sich-2-30 would provide Ukraine with access to information it had not had for the past ten years.
According to him, the satellite is designed to obtain digital images of the surface of our planet, which can be involved in land use, agriculture and forestry, cartography, water control and monitoring of emergencies and natural disasters, security and defense, in detecting illegal activities.
The Ukrainian satellite is also designed to monitor the basic parameters of neutral and charged particles of the Earth's ionosphere and to measure the dose of cumulative radiation from cosmic radiation.
After launch, the Sich-2-30 satellite will be involved in the European Union's Copernicus Earth observation programme.
Head of the State Space Agency of Ukraine Volodymyr Taftay stressed that a lot of work had been done to fulfill the task of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to launch this satellite.
"We have not launched our satellites for more than 11 years. And this is actually a new era in the launch of Ukrainian-made satellites. I hope that this is the first of the eight satellites that will be produced in the framework of the strategic program, which is awaiting approval by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine,” he said.
