THE WESTERN European Union has decided to continue with the operation of the WEU Satellite Centre in Torrejon, Spain. The future of the Centre, which has 50 staff and a $46 million budget lasting until the end of this year, had been in doubt.
The Centre was established in April 1993 and has provided photo-interpretation of images from Spot satellites. It will now enhance this service with data from Landsat, the European remote-sensing satellites (the ERS 1 and 2) and the Helios, which is scheduled for launch in July.
The WEU has deferred a decision about whether to recommend the establishment of a $14 billion European military satellite system (Flight International, 18-24 January).
The ambitious plan to establish a military space-launch centre in Svobodny-18 in Russia's far east has been delayed for at least five years, to 2005.
A new military satellite launcher, the Angara 24, is being developed for the Svobodny project, which was proposed in 1994 as an alternative launch site to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, after negotiations for Russia's lease of Baikonur met difficulties.
Russia has now agreed to pay Kazakhstan $115 million a year for 20 years for the use of the cosmodrome.
Source: Flight International