Institute of Space Research Marks 50 Years Since Bulgaria Became a Space-Faring State

Jerusalem, 19 October, 2022 (TPS) -- SOFIA, 17.10.2022 (BTA)
The Space Research and Technology Institute (SRTI-BAS) at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences celebrates 50 years under the motto “Bulgaria – a space-faring state”. The solemn assembly will take place on October 19, at 3 pm, in the “Prof. Marin Drinov” hall of the Academy, the press center of the BAS said on Monday.

The program includes the opening of an exhibition at and the awarding of the winners in the national children’s competition “What Space Is to Us”.

On December 1 of 1972, the first Bulgarian scientific instrument, bearing the modest name Pribor-1 /P-1/, created by Bulgarian scientists and specialists, flew into the vast Cosmos. With the data it sends to Earth laboratories, Bulgaria is recognized as a space-faring country.

Over the last 50 years, Bulgaria has established itself in the space family as the sixth country to send two of its cosmonauts (Georgi Ivanov and Alexander Alexandrov) to space; it has become the third country in the world to produce space food and last but not least – Bulgarian scientists have invented the world’s first space greenhouse “SVET”, in which wheat was grown from seed to seed for the first time, the BAS pointed out.

More than 150 scientific instruments and devices have secured Bulgaria’s place among the first to truly master space at a large scale. Today, original Bulgarian instruments are working on the International Space Station (ISS). On 19 February 2022, another Bulgarian instrument for space radiation research, Liulin-SET, was launched to the ISS, and Liulin-MO continues to operate today in orbit around distant Mars.

Soon, Bulgaria’s new instrument is expected to transmit specific information from the surface of Mars itself. With these achievements, Bulgarian scientists and specialists have made an undeniable contribution to the future flight of cosmonauts and astronauts to the Moon and Mars, the Academy stressed.