In order to raise the efficiency and output of these investigations, the first Ukrainian satellite «Sich-l» was launched in 1995, it was instrumented for remote sensing of the Earth. Activity will continue on designing and launching new space vehicles of the «Sich» series with more advanced spectrometric and radar imaging instruments that will enable the solution of a variety of problems, those, in particular, connected with the inventory and assessment of soils, with the study of bioproductivity of new fishery regions in oceans and seas, etc.

            In 1996 the «Priroda» module was launched to join the Russian orbital «Mir» station within the scope of an international project. Ukrainian organizations participate in this project, providing the space imaging by the test site measurements necessary for the calibration of the survey data for the area of Ukraine. Ukrainian organizations and experts in the field of remote sensing collaborate successfully with space agencies and homologous organizations from Russia, Germany, France, Latin America, European Community, and other countries. This is beneficial in solving the problems on natural resources and environment protection actual for Ukraine, as the survey data acquired from the Ukrainian satellite is supplemented by space information from various national and international space platforms.

            The present atlas of thematically interpreted space images, «Ukraine from Space», contains vast survey data obtained from various space platforms — SPOT (France), «Landsat» (USA), «Resurs» (Russia), and «Sich» (Ukraine). Its compilation became possible due to successful mastering of computer technologies for the space data processing by Ukrainian specialists.