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Due to the sanctions imposed against Russia by unfriendly countries, it took a long time to deliver the starry sky screen and other equipment to Penza Planetarium.
According to Oleg Melnichenko, modern expensive equipment for the reconstructed planetarium was purchased in Germany and the USA before the special military operation. Since its beginning, numerous sanctions have been imposed against our country
"Therefore, we were faced with the task of getting all the equipment, ordered and paid for by that time, from the territories of states that are unfriendly to us today," the head of the region explained. First of all, the screen produced by an American company, without which the planetarium would not be able to perform its main function."
"As for Germany, in fact, in December 2022, the German side was ready to transfer the equipment to us," Oleg Melnichenko said. "It was safely delivered to the Belarusian–Polish border, but the Poles refused to let the equipment enter the territory of our country."
Therefore, we had to take measures and deliver the cargo through the Baltic States. An even more difficult task was the delivery of the starry sky dome from the United States. Several attempts were made, and only the fourth of them was successful.
"We did it in a situation of complete information silence," the governor explained. I categorically forbade discussing it anywhere, because any leak of information would complicate the delivery of equipment to the territory of Penza and would practically close the opportunity for us to finish the work on the reconstruction of the planetarium."
Twice the dome was returned to the manufacturing company from an American airport, then from Europe to the USA. And only for the fourth time (by sea through Turkey), the equipment was delivered to Novorossiysk.
"Thus, nothing less than a "special delivery operation" has been successfully completed. Now we can tell you about it," Oleg Melnichenko summed up.
He also said that after the landscaping, the adjacent square with a new fountain is planned to be put into operation for the opening of the modernized planetarium by September 1, 2023.
It should be recalled that the reconstruction began in 2021. The latest equipment of both Russian and international production has been purchased, including interactive equipment for conducting experiments and demonstrating physical phenomena, as well as a complex of illumination of the Star Skyl, an acoustic system, an optical-mechanical planetarium, a projection dome screen, furniture, office equipment and much more. The Penza Planetarium will be equipped with the latest technology compared to similar facilities in Russian cities.