Russia and France are preparing an agreement on the Spectrum-M space observatory to study objects from deep space and in particular to look for traces of extraterrestrial life, TASS news agency reported today.
The report quoted Larisa Likhachova, deputy director of the PN Lebedev Institute of Physics (LPI), one of Russia’s oldest research centers, who said an agreement is being prepared with the participation of the French government space agency, the Center National Space Studies.
He expressed concern that due to a reduction in funding for the project in 2019, the observatory is not ready until 2030.
The observatory, also known as Millimetron, is a project headed by the LPI Astro Space Center. It will be located at a distance of 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.
It will be a 10-meter space telescope designed to study various objects of the Universe in millimeter and infrared wavelengths between 0.07 and 10 millimeters.
With their help, scientists are expected to obtain data on the global structure of the Universe, the structure and evolution of galaxies, their nuclei, stars, planetary systems, objects with super strong gravitational fields and electromagnetic fields, as well as organic complexes in space.
Source: Laprensa