Prague, June 30 (CTK) – Construction of a space surveillance centre (SATCEN) to assess and process satellite and aerial images for NATO and the Czech military intelligence service VZ will be officially launched in the Czech Republic on July 1, VZ spokeswoman Alzbeta Riethofova has told CTK.
The centre that will be work within the VZ is to be fully developed by 2020.
Both the NATO command and the Czech military and state offices will be able to send requirements to the centre.
The Czech military may also use data from it for its foreign missions.
In case of need, data from the centre may be utilised by the firefighters or rescuers in times of floods or fires. During floods, rescuers will be able to tell exactly where the water has spread.
Satellite images can be also used by the Transport Ministry in supervising highway and bridge constructions
NATO representatives consider space research an area of key importance in terms of the NATO security.
In the next months, the Czech SATCEN centre will hire experts who will be able to evaluate shapes and locations of the items in the images and the operation of individual facilities will be tested.
About 50 experts are to work at the centre. The construction of the centre will cost hundreds of millions of crowns and its annual operation tens of millions.
