We are happy to welcome you on the website of "ECOMIR", the Belarusian Republican Scientific Technical Center of environment remote sensing (RSTC "ECOMIR").

Employing the latest technologies, highly qualified experts of the Republican Scientific Technical Center will help you to find the best solutions to the problems you face. Our center will enable you to meet the highest world standards and the strictest requirements and to perform successfully not only in Belarus but at the international level as well.

You are guaranteed to receive a warm welcome in our research center and extended consultation, detailed advice on all the questions you are interested in. Experienced programmers and computer and electronics specialists will assist you in new technology implementation, equipment maintenance and provide training programs and technical advice on operating various tools and processing measurement data.

We are proud to offer you full-scale technical maintenance service. We are also ready to launch joint projects using the advanced equipment available at our center.

"ECOMIR" employs 39 people including 7 Candidates of Science (D.Sc.) and one Doctor of Science. The center is headed, by Professor Alexander Kovalyov, the winner of the State Award of the Republic of Belarus in the field of science and technology.



Photo: Alexander Lukashenko, the President of the Republic of Belarus, is conferring the State Award of the Republic of Belarus in the field of science and technology to Professor Kovalyov (May, 2003).

"ECOMIR" HAS THE FOLLOWING LATEST EQUIPMENT AT ITS DISPOSAL:

• spectrum and optical equipment for environment remote sensing;
• global positioning systems, high precision total stations and geodesic equipment;
• a unique chemical radiometric laboratory equipped with the latest cliromatomass-spectrometers, gas and liquid chromatographs, atomic absorption spectrometers, infra-red spectrometers, gamma-spectrometers and liquid scintillators;
• a digital microscopy laboratory;
• mobile ecological and radiometric laboratories;
• an up-to-date complex for creating eco-geographical information systems of the Belarusian regions and territories.

"ECOMIR" PRINCIPAL OBJECTIVES:

1.Carrying out fundamental research, programs on the solar energy and substance interaction with the aim to solve the problems of environment remote sensing and natural resources studies with the help of spectral optical methods;



2. Designing and constructing on-board spectral optical equipment complexes for environment remote sensing and natural, resources studies;



3. Designing and constructing mobile ecological and radiometric laboratories for the on-the-ground support of aerospace measurement data as well as quick and effective ecological tests of environmental objects;



4. Designing automated systems of collecting, processing and analyzing the remote spectral optical photography data as well as the information received from the on-the-ground and lab measurements. This information is further used in creating eco-geographical information systems and thematic cartography of territories;

5. Elaborating new methods for ecological and geomechanical monitoring of territories, creating land and forest cadastres with the help of high-precision global positioning systems, electronic total stations and laser rangefinders;

6. Elaborating new chemical radiometry lab methods for earning out research on determining the level of environment objects contamination with heavy metals, hazardous organic substances and radionuclides;



7. Working out the principles of digital stereo and optical microscopy for analyzing soil and biological objects as well as broadening the application scope of digital microscopy in metal and electronic industries as well as in the quality control tests of the potassium fertilizers produced in Belarus;



8. Searching for new methods of complex remote and on-the-ground ecological examination of the territories of the Republic of Belarus employing spectral optical methods, remote sensing tools, mobile ecological and radiometric labs, a mobile lidar station, high precision systems of satellite positioning and electronic total stations, a stationary chemical radiometric laboratory alongside with the digital microscopy lab. "ECOMIR" is also actively involved in drawing out recommendations for land reclamation;

9. Finding new methods of assessing the environment ecological state impact on the children's health and measuring the degree of heavy metal content in their blood;

10. Working out the principles and creation of laboratories involved in medical and forensic expertise;



11. Defining new methods and conducting practical research on industrial and. municipal waste, measuring the heavy metals content in it in the framework the President's acts implementation, which stipulate the necessity to bring the land resources in proper order.

In compliance with the instructions of the President of the Republic of Belarus, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus and. fulfilling the special tasks of the Ministry of Sport and Tourism of the Republic of Belarus and the National Olympic Committee of Belarus, "ECOMIR" is actively involved in creating the doping-control system in Belarus. Food additives tests are extensively conducted in "ECOMIR" chemical analytical laboratories as well as biological tests of sportsmen, members of the Belarusian national teams with the aim to exercise control over the forbidden substances content in their blood.

From 1991 to 1996 "ECOMIR" was the leading organization in the Republic of Belarus in the field of implementing the republican scientific program on devising new techniques and methods of environment and agricultural areas remote sensing, in order to increase the efficiency of their application and improve their protection.

INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS AND INVESTMENT PROGRAMS

The research conducted by "ECOMIR" in the field of remote sensing, environmental ecological and radiation monitoring have enabled RSTC to elaborate and carry out three international projects. $ 30 mln has been invested, in the economy of the Republic of Belarus as a result of the following projects:

1."Development of Radiological Contamination Early Warning Systems for Belarus and Ukraine". The results of the project are successfully used in practical activities of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus and. the Department of Hydrometeorology.

2."Development of Remote Methods of Land and Ecological Cadastres Creation on the Basis of the Soligorsk Region (the Cedastre of the Soligorsk region)". The project results are applied in. the activities of the Committee on Land Resources, Geodesy and Cartography at the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus and the National Academy of Science of the Republic of Belarus.

3."Ecological Examination of Former Military Objects Sites" within the framework of the program "Joint Threat Reduction". The obtained results are extensively used in the practical activity of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus and the National Academy of Science.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

RSTC "ECOMIR" successfully develops international cooperation and keeps in close touch with research institutes, companies and firms involved in aerospace research and natural resources studies, ecological safety, environment monitoring, designing new equipment and technologies for remote sensing, global positioning, geodesy, geographical information systems, microscopy and analytical chemistry. In the first line, these are research institutes and enterprises of the Russian Academy of Science, the Academy of Science of Ukraine, research centers of Germany, Poland, the United States alongside with the world leading companies such as LEICA MICROSYSTEMS, LEICA GEOSYSTEMS, HEWLET PACKHARD, PERKIN ELMER, ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMIKAL CORPORATION, "AEROMAR", etc.

RSTC "ECOMIR" is the exclusive representative of LEICA MICROSYSTEMS and LEICA GEOSYSTEMS in the Republic of Belarus.

RSTC "ECOMIR" is a service and training center of LEICA MICROSYSTEMS and LEICA GEOSYSTEMS in the Republic of Belarus.

In the course of the last several years ECOMIR has carried out a great number of practical lines of research on ecological examination of the Minsk region territories as well as a number of districts of the Gomel Brest and Vitebsk regions. It was already in the year of 1991 that the aerogramme of the three Belarusian regions was made with the view to reduce the harmful consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. The aerogramme made it possible to discover new sources of land radionucide contamination. Detailed radiological maps of the Minsk region and the Volozhynski, Soilgorsk and other districts and areas were published and submitted to broad public consideration.



The employees of "ECOMIR" have published more than 200 research papers, a number of monographs and books that are widely used, not only in their scientific research but also in the process of teaching and training conducted by experts of the Center for Faculties of Physics and Mathematics, Geography and Chemistry of the Belarusian State University, the Department of Engineering Geodesy of the Belarusian National Technical University and the Geographical Faculty of Gomel State University.