Russia, Ireland to jointly explore space

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia’s Federal Space Agency Roscosmos and Ireland’s National Space Center have signed a memorandum of understanding on bilateral cooperation in space exploration, according to RIA Novosti.

“The memorandum reaffirms the strive of both countries to promote the development of bilateral cooperation in the area of space exploration in the framework of 1967 Outer Space Treaty and other international treaties on peaceful space exploration,” Roscosmos said in a statement on Thursday.

The document also outlines basic principles and conditions of Russian-Irish cooperation in scientific space research, satellite navigation and Earth remote sensing.

Ireland joined the European Space Agency (ESA) in December 1980 to become the 11th member.

The country contributed 15.6 million euros (about $20 mln) or 0.4% to the ESA budget in 2012. A growing number of Irish companies are becoming active in the European space program, with a strong focus on technology innovation.

In November 2011, Russia and Ireland signed an agreement at the 8th Russian-Irish Joint Economic Commission in Moscow to work together across a range of Space and Physics related programs.