Russia, Australia Implement Joint Space Project

A satellite which will be operated by schoolchildren from Russia and Australia, will be launched next February from the International Space Station (ISS.) This information was disclosed by the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The satellite, which was called Kolibri due to its small weight (less than 23 kg,) has already been delivered to the ISS by the Russian Progress cargo space ship. Next February, the Kolibri together with the Progress will separate from the ISS and subsequently start its autonomous flight. The vehicle is equipped with scientific devices to register magnetic and electric fields of the Earth, as well as the flow of space particles and other parameters of the near space. This data will be received and processed by senior schoolchildren from the Russian physics and mathematics school in the Obninsk town, the Moscow region, and from two schools in Sydney. The satellite has been manufactured in the Space Engineering Design Bureau in the Moscow region.