Russia’s Glavkosmos (GK) Launch Services, a subsidiary of Roscosmos State Space Corporation, and Tunisian Telnet Group are in talks on the joint construction of space vehicles and the deployment of a satellite constellation.
Russian Ambassador to Tunisia Sergey Nikolaev disclosed this in an interview with Sputnik on Wednesday.
On March 20 — Tunisia’s Independence Day — the country’s first satellite, dubbed Challenge ONE, is scheduled to be launched onboard Russian-made Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket.
The ambassador pointed out that Tunisia is one of the first Arab countries to manufacture its spacecraft using its own resources and capabilities.
Various events are expected to be carried out in connection with the satellite’s launch and the 60th anniversary of the first human space flight, Nikolaev added.
Russia’s private space company Sputnix CEO Vladislav Ivanenko earlier told Sputnik that the firm intended to send five satellites, including the South Korean Earth observation spacecraft CAS500-1, as well as two space vehicles on behalf of foreign clients, with one of them being Tunisia’s Challenge ONE for the internet of things.
The Tunisian satellite is “a scientific research and innovation project” which offers new IT concepts and their practical applications.
The results of Challenge ONE work “will be used for building a constellation” of 30 satellites.