KYIV. Nov 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Antares launch vehicle (LV) designed and created in Ukraine used in the implementation of a NASA CRS-8 Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station (ISS) was successfully launched from a launch pad in the United States.
The successful launch of the Antares LV with the Cygnus spacecraft, which was broadcasted on the NASA website, was carried out from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island (Virginia, the United States) at 14:14 Kyiv time. Initially, the launch was scheduled for Saturday, but was scrubbed at the last moment due to a plane in the hazard area.
The Cygnus spacecraft, which was launched into a near-earth orbit, will deliver about 3 tonnes of payload, supplies of food, scientific equipment to the ISS, and will also recycle waste from the ISS.
The basic structure of the first phase of the Antares rocket was designed by Pivdenne Design Bureau and made by Pivdenmash (both based in Dnipro). Ukraine’s Hartron-Arkos, Hartron-Ucom, Chezara (Chernihiv Plant of Radio Equipment), and Rapid are also involved in cooperation on the project.
This is the second launch of the upgraded Antares LV – Antares-230 with replaced engines of the first stage.
In October 2014, the launch to the International Space Station of a private cargo spacecraft, Cygnus, atop an Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops flight facility in the state of Virginia ended in failure: the rocket exploded just seconds after the liftoff. The failure was traced to a fault in the first stage engines. After this, Orbital ATK decided to replace the first stage engine.
KYIV. Nov 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has begun a two-day visit to Ukraine and is set to meet with representatives of the Finance Ministry and agrarian business to discuss reforms in Ukraine.
“Right now we are starting with breakfast with representatives of agribusiness to discuss ways to increase productivity in the agricultural sector and the role of our country in global food security,” Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk wrote on his Facebook page.
According to him, the president of the World Bank has many important meetings in the agenda, in particular, with President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, as well as with Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Andriy Parubiy and the leaders of the parliamentary factions.
As reported, the World Bank in the announcement of the visit called one of the purposes of his visit confirmation of the World Bank’s support in order to accelerate economic growth. The bank said that meetings with representatives of civil society, private sector leaders, as well as parliamentarians to discuss ways to accelerate reforms in the areas of agriculture, health, pensions, energy, the banking sector and fighting corruption in Ukraine are also planned.
Together with Prime Minister Groysman Jim Yong Kim will take part in the special event titled “Ukraine: Innovations and Opportunities.”
The World Bank has recently approved the concept of partnership with Ukraine for 2017-2021, which should support the country’s efforts to achieve sustainable economic recovery.
KYIV. Nov 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in November downgraded its forecast for sunflower harvest in Ukraine in 2017 by 500,000 tonnes compared with the forecast in October, to 13 million tonnes.
According to a report on the website of the U.S. department, the forecast for sunflower oil production in the 2017/2018 marketing year (MY, September-August) was reduced by 194,000 tonnes, to 5.59 million tonnes, exports by 150,000 tonnes, to 5 million tonnes.
According to USDA forecasts, production of sunflower meal in Ukraine in the current season will amount to 5.369 million tonnes, its exports will stand at 4.5 million tonnes.
According to the estimates of the U.S. agency, in the 2016/2017 MY Ukraine supplied 5.85 million tonnes of sunflower oil to foreign markets with production being 6.35 million tonnes.
According to the State Statistics Service, Ukraine in 2016 increased sunflower harvest by 21.7% compared to 2015, to 13.6 million tonnes.
Ukraine is the world’s leader in production and export of sunflower oil.
KYIV. Nov 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Euroformat LLC plant (Kyiv), a large Ukrainian elevator manufacturer, has signed a contract with Trakcja PRKiI S.A. (Poland), a general contractor for the modernization of Polish Railway, the company has told Interfax-Ukraine.
“This contract is interesting, first of all, by the customer’s significance and coverage throughout the country. Elevators will be operated in difficult conditions, often outside the premises, which will actually allow testing their strength and emphasizing the reliability of equipment. We’ve started the first delivery of Euroformat lifts to the several stations of the E30 Zabrze-Katowice-Krakow track with the prospect of delivery to all platforms along this railway line, as well as in the E20 Warsaw-Poznan direction,” head of the commercial department of the plant Oleksiy Kramarenko said.
Today Poland for the company is the main export market. A representative office was created in this country in 2015, and this direction is actively developing.
Euroformat group of companies has been operating in the Ukrainian market for more than 15 years. It specializes in production of goods and services for residential and commercial construction. The structure is represented by its own research and development center, factories, assembly companies.
KYIV. Nov 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – PJSC Motor Sich (Zaporizhia) plans soon to start supplying helicopters with new aircraft weapons to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
A source in the Motor Sich management told Interfax-Ukraine on Friday that the company was currently completing state trials of Mi-2MSB and Mi-8MSB multi-purpose military aircraft equipped with unguided S-8 80 mm and S-13 122 mm rockets.
“The major part of state trials of Mi-2MSBs equipped with unguided S-8 rockets has already been successfully completed. State trials of Mi-8MSBs with unguided S-13 rockets are in the final stage,” he said.
The source said that Motor Sich had started creating new aircraft weapons for Mi-2MSB and Mi-8MSB helicopters amid new challenges to the country’s defense capability.
Motor Sich is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of engines for aircraft and industrial gas turbines. In 2012, Motor Sich helicopter design bureau was created in Zaporizhia.
KYIV. Nov 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The business of Siemens in Ukraine in the 2018 financial year (October 2017-September 2018) is expected to grow by at least 10%, Siemens Ukraine CEO Maciej Tomasz Zielinski has said.
“Last fiscal year we grew more than expected: revenues increased by 11%, new orders by 28%, profit margins were higher than those stipulated in the budget. And next year we plan to work with clients even more actively. I expect the growth will be 10% and even more. The plans are very ambitious, I see significant prospects and many opportunities in all sectors,” the expert said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to him, new orders grew in all divisions: digital production, industrial automation, continuous processes and drives, electric power (production, transmission and distribution of energy), building automation and infrastructure.
Among the most intensified areas, Zielinski singled out mining and metallurgical and agro-industrial complexes.
He said one of the priorities of development in Ukraine is digitalization of industry – not only software, but the whole cycle from the creation of a digital product double, including digital production and service provision.
Siemens Ukraine, established in 1997, is a supplier of products, services and integrated solutions for energy, industry, transport, building automation and urban infrastructure. The central office is in Kyiv, while regional branches are located in Lviv, Dnipro, Kryvy Rih, Odesa, and Kharkiv.
