Armenia

The Republic of Armenia places great significance on the development of its national space related capacities and science, with a special focus on Earth observation, which has been one of the most impactful and dynamically growing subsector in 2023.

In 2023, Geocosmos CJSC and Spanish Satlantis Microsats, S.L. continued their cooperation in establishing a mission control center and ground station in Armenia in the framework of Armsat-1 mission. The Armenian satellite operator team successfully completed the initial two stages of training, with ongoing training sessions for satellite operators on a regular basis.

The Ministry of High-Tech Industry of the Republic of Armenia, in cooperation with scientific institutions and private space research and remote sensing companies, initiated the Space Camp programme in 2021. In 2023, this one-week programme featured a series of lectures and practical training designed to introduce students aged 15 to 17 to the space Industry and science, emphasizing Earth observation data and technologies and their various applications. Over 100 Armenian students across the world were selected to participate in the 2023 Space camp, following admission examinations. Notably, efforts were made to ensure gender balance, resulting in nearly equal participation between boys and girls.

In 2023, the Center for Ecological-Noosphere Studies (CENS) of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, one of the leading research institutions widely using space and airborne data and technologies for assessing and monitoring the ecological state of the different environmental components (air, water, soil, plants), engaged in space-related activities, including:

• Conducting research on modelling urban air temperature (with a case study of Yerevan city) using open-source satellite images (Landsat TIRS) and advanced Machine Learning (ML) models. Furthermore, the correlation between land-surface temperature (LST) and land-surface patterns in urban local climatic zones, particularly in Yerevan Botanical Garden has been studied, utilizing high-resolution multispectral and thermal data from UAVs. This research has been conducted in close collaboration with the University of Pavia (Italy) and the results have been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
• Investigating the water quality parameters of Lake Sevan, such as water surface temperature, chlorophyll-a, and Harmful Algae Bloom (HAB), using daily satellite images from the European Sentinel-3/2. This aimed to identify the blooming period of HAB in the lake based on remote sensing data. The research was carried out in cooperation with the Helmholtz Centre of the Environmental Research (Germany), Hydrometeorology and Monitoring Center of the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Armenia, and the Scientific Centre of Zoology and Hydroecology of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, Institute of Hydroecology and Ichthyology of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia.

In 2023, the first private space initiative took off with the Bazoomq foundation, becoming the first non-profit organization to receive a license for conducting space activities in Armenia. The Bazoomq foundation initiated the technology demonstration project “Hayasat.” This project involved the Armenian team in testing and assembling Flatsat, programming and integrating flight modules, and developing a secondary payload. “Hayasat” is poised to be the first Cubesat launched into LEO (Sun-synchronous orbit), integrated and developed by an Armenian team. The Bazoomq foundation is also actively working on technological solutions to mitigate space debris risks, including the development of a novel concept for LEO satellites deorbiting system, which is expected to be more lightweight, simple, reliable, and cost-effective․

These efforts reflect Armenia’s strong commitment to the development of national capacities and the promotion of the Earth Observation in Geospatial Science and Industry. At the national level, we continue to cooperate in an integrated manner with other agencies, organizations and levels of governance concerned with GEO Societal Benefit Areas committed to endorse and act towards implementing GEO related activities in Armenia and so, supporting GEO work program implementation.

Thank you for the attention,

Dr. Shushanik Asmaryan, 

Correspondence Contact to make official submissions 

to the GEO Secretariat on behalf of GEO Principal of Armenia