Roscosmos and NTI Held Conference on Development of Private Cosmonautics in Russia
MOSCOW (Roscosmos PR) — On January 27, 2022, Roscosmos State Corporation together with the Platform of the National Technology Initiative (NTI) held an online conference dedicated to the development of private cosmonautics and the implementation of the accompanying regulatory framework in Russia.
The event was attended by Sergey Prokhorov, director of the department for advanced programs and the Sphere project of the Roscosmos State Corporation, Vladislav Ivanenko, general director of the private space company Sputniks, Roman Zhits, head of the NTI Aeronet direction for private astronautics, as well as representatives of the Russian media.
During the media conference, the panelists discussed the current situation with the development of private cosmonautics in Russia, focusing on the need for joint efforts to form a market for private space service operators. To this end, proposals were made to amend the regulatory framework of the Russian Federation, aimed at supporting private companies working on the subject of space exploration, and creating special conditions for them to test units and certify final products.
Sergey Prokhorov spoke about the potential support that the launch of the Sphere project will provide to private cosmonautics: “In the future, Roskosmos will be interested in ordering launch services from private companies to replenish orbital constellations, since it plans to create multi-satellite systems of small spacecraft for communication and remote sensing Earth.”
Roman Zhits, head of the Aeronet branch of the NTI for private astronautics, noted that the first tests of a prototype of an ultralight rocket for launching small satellites into orbit could take place in 2026-2027 if appropriate funding is found. It is assumed that according to the results of the competition among private Russian developers, an ultralight rocket capable of launching a payload of about 250 kg into orbit will be created.
6 responses to “Roscosmos and NTI Held Conference on Development of Private Cosmonautics in Russia”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
It’s sad that the Russians are even getting surpassed in the building of Potemkin Villages these days. Europe, for example, does a much better job of pretending to have a commercial space sector. If the only publicly expressed goal is to get a sub-Electron-class smallsat launcher built in about five years, I fear this “initiative” isn’t going to amount to much. And, in the unlikely event anything does come of it, the “lucky” owners of any successful start-ups will be promptly expropriated by Putin’s pet oligarchs.
One key element for private enterprise is confidence that the risk takers will be able to profit from success.
There is a hardware hacker community in Russia, and they are tooled up to some extent. About 10 years ago there was an individual who had a YouTube channel called “Hybrid Rocket Russia” who tooled up a shop and eventually made a real composite winding and layup machine. It evolved to a pretty advanced state. Then there’s Russia’s combination of Collin Furz and the Test Flyte Team from the US, Victor Nagoda. I’d say they have a few shops going at the level of ERPS at its peak – Masten at the start of his efforts. They have not broken out like their US analogs have and needless to say none of the oligarchs are interested in space as a viable enterprise. But the old Soviet ban on individual enterprise is gone. Given more wealth circulating in the society as a whole, US style startups could come to the fore. If the world’s economy returns to a Cold War style separation of economies with a Western camp and a Chinese camp, I can see Russia spawning something like a Planet Lab or two. Likely the real startups in such an economy would come from China and they’d swamp any viable startups out of Russia who would be the junior member of the that bloc.
At least one of Russia’s oligarchs was interested enough in Russian start-up Dauria Aerospace to take it away from its founders a few years ago. There’s a newer Russian space start-up called Sputnik that seems to be in the process of being similarly expropriated. As long as space-related stuff in Russia is being pursued by the non-state sector only on a serious hobby level it is probably safe. Start making money, though, and the oligarchs will getcha.
And there also is, unfortunately, not “more wealth circulating in the society as a whole” in Russia. Russia gets poorer every year, not richer.
But you are doubtless right that Chinese “start-ups” are more likely to be “successful” than any notional Russian equivalents. PRC space companies are, after all, substantially creatures of their government from birth and not just objects of interest to same after having proven themselves profitable.
If a Cold War 2.0 has a chance to establish itself, the Russians would, indeed, be on the PRC side. Russia still has oil and gas and could get both to the PRC in quantity without any dependence on vulnerable seaborne logistics.
What you describe is the Russian form of a hostile takeover. It goes back to the boyers who were in many ways the founders of Russian society. Russia is right, the threat from the West is existential. Western economic practice will relegate the Boyer/Oligarchs to a fixed position in the economy and eventual obscurity. It’s a process the Ukraine has already already embraced and adopted. If it takes hold in Ukraine, it will do so in Russia as well. This is probably the best time for Russia to do what it’s about to do from the POV of their strength vs Ukraine’s weakness.
You are correct that the existential struggle in which Russia finds itself is not moving in Russia’s favor. You might even be right that this is the “best” time for Russia to invade Ukraine.
But it’s hardly an absolute “best” and continues to get less and less favorable as Ukraine arms up.
The overall “best” time would likely have been during the Obama administration if Russia had just kept going after taking Crimea and a bit of the Ukrainian east. That Russia did not do so argues more for inability than for lack of desire.
That may well be Russia’s current situation as well. It’s much cheaper to be the growly bear prowling the border marches when one can look fierce without needing to do anything irrevocable by way of attempting to demonstrate actual ferocity. Making an real move runs the very real risk of being shown to be excessive growl and insufficient bite.