Top cosmonaut to assess progress of Irish-Russian space research during visit

A cosmonaut who works for a space research agency part-funded by a billionaire Russian oil baron will visit Europe’s largest radio telescope in East Cork this weekend.

Sergei Zhukov will tour the National Space Centre’s Elfordstown facility outside Midleton and assess the progress made on plans signed by Ireland and Russia at the 8th Russian-Irish Joint Economic Commission last November, which will see the two nations working together across a range of space and physics-related programmes.

Mr Zhukov is a Russian research cosmonaut who instructed cosmonauts and supervised several astrophysics and radiobiology experiments aboard the Mir Space Station.

He is currently the executive director of the Space Technologies and Communications Cluster at the Moscow-based Skolkovo organisation.

Skolkovo was set up with the aid of private and state funding to conduct advanced research and development.

The agency is headed by Russian oil and aluminium tycoon Victor Vekselberg, considered by many to be one of the remaining Russian oligarchs. He is worth an estimated €1.4bn.

The Russian government hopes Skolkovo’s work will result in the creation of a Silicon Valley-style hi-tech research hub in Moscow.

Mr Vekselberg owns the world’s largest collection of Fabergé eggs.

The Russian government expects that between 25,000 and 30,000 people will work and live in Skolkovo to develop new space and telecom products, innovative medical equipment, biotech, clean energy and energy efficiency products such as new LED lightbulbs, nuclear technologies and, information technology.

Mr Zhukov will visit Elfordstown on Saturday from 6pm to 8pm and will deliver a talk of life in space.