Funds for the creation and launch of the Spectr-UV telescope (World Space Observatory – Ultraviolet) have been allocated, reports RIA Novosti statement of the scientific director of the Institute for Space Research (IKI) Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) Leo Zeleny .
According to him, the allocation of annual funding for scientific space in the amount of 14-15 billion rubles – “this is actually reduced money, this is the restoration of the budget”, which will be enough for basic research of the Moon, Venus and work on Spectr-UF.
“In particular, Spectr-UV is a very good experiment, the Russian Hubble. Now we will be able to launch it as planned, in 2025,” Zeleny said.
In February 2019, Mikhail Sachkov, Deputy Scientific Director of the Spectr-UF project, Deputy Director of the Institute of Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences said that Roskosmos intends in 2019 to cut funding for the Spektr-UF space telescope project by three times, and by another ten times in 2020, which will actually halt work on the creation of the telescope.
In June 2018, Deputy General Director of Roscosmos for Automatic Space Complexes and Systems Mikhail Khailov said that Spektr-UF will be launched on the Angara-A5 rocket from the Vostochny cosmodrome in 2024.
According to the Federal Space Program for 2016-2025, the launch of Spectra-UF is scheduled for 2024. The space observatory is designed for imaging and spectroscopy in the ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The closest analogue of Spectra-UV is the American Hubble.