In this Q&A, Skolkovo’s Sergei Zhukov discusses Russia’s expanding space industry as it receives more funding and develops new technologies.
Why has the role of outer space in global politics increased in recent decades?
The world economy is becoming more and more dependent on the intensity of space activities. The market for space technology production and services is variously estimated at between $300bn (£190bn) and $400bn (£255bn) a year.
It has several segments, the biggest being satellite communications and telecommunications, navigation and distance Earth sensing.
Russia’s share in these segments is less than 1pc. In the production of satellites, our share is 7-10pc. Our share in orbiting payloads is traditionally high – 33 to 40pc – but that segment is still very small.
What prevents Russia from increasing its share of the world space market?
On the one hand, state financing of space activities in Russia has more than tripled in the past five years and is still growing. The new space strategy is widely discussed.
On the other hand, there is virtually no private sector in our space industry, whereas the world trend is toward ever more confident involvement of the private sector.
Besides, there is an international division of labour in hi-tech sectors. Russia should form alliances with world-leading producers.
Has the United States taken the lead in world space activities because of the development of its private sector?
The US today is the only country that pursues virtually all types of space activity. And no wonder: if one combines their civilian and military budgets, the sum is sure to exceed the total spending by the rest of the world on space activities.
As for development of the private segment, the US policy adheres to a strict division of responsibility: study of the solar system, including planets and asteroids, is the business of the state, whereas developing near-Earth space is the domain of private companies.
And you should remember that the giant contractors of the US space agency today, be it Boeing, Lockheed Martin or Orbital, are all private enterprises. They ensure America’s technological lead.
Are there any domestically made breakthrough products in the pipeline?
That’s a tough question. Russian energy and engine technologies have a good chance, by which I mean rocket engines and space nuclear plants.
I do not rule out some less spectacular but important technical solutions in the field of small space platforms and elements of on-board service systems. The Skolkovo project is working on these developments.
Are there others willing to support private initiatives in Russia apart from Skolkovo?
We are not the only ones. Indeed, other development institutions began to support the commercial industry before we did. They include the Russian Venture Company and Rusnano.
Vnesheconombank is actively investing in major projects, too.
Are Russian businessmen lukewarm about investing in the space industry?
Russia has virtually no legislation governing commercial activities in space. The federal law on space activities was passed in 1993 and remains basically a framework law.
Private interests simply do not understand what rules to play by in this area, and businessmen are afraid to invest in the sector as a result of this lack of understanding. And there are many restrictions in this highly specialised field, such as on the use of high-resolution space photographs and on obtaining licences for space activities.
Glonass: a business heading in the right direction
Glonass – an acronym for Globalnaya Navigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema, or global navigation satellite system – was developed in the Seventies and Eighties.
It was designed as a replacement for an earlier navigational system that required hours of observation to fix a position, making it completely unsuitable for navigational purposes.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Glonass system went into a state of decline because of budgetary constraints until Vladimir Putin made its restoration a top government priority early in his first presidency.
By 2012, Glonass had achieved full coverage of the planet’s surface via 24 functioning satellites.
More than $4.7bn (£3bn) has been spent on the project over the past decade – one third of the total budget of the Russian space agency, Roscosmos.
According to online publication thenextweb.com, Glonass now provides better accuracy than GPS in some parts of the northern hemisphere due to the positioning of its satellites.
Source: telegraph.co.uk