The new head of Russian space agency Roscosmos has reportedly called for a ban on buying telecoms satellites from abroad to boost its domestic industry.
Oleg Ostapenko has asked for the ban to be considered in the country’s federal space programme for…
The new head of Russian space agency Roscosmos has reportedly called for a ban on buying telecoms satellites from abroad to boost its domestic industry.
Oleg Ostapenko has asked for the ban to be considered in the country’s federal space programme for 2006-2025, according to local reports citing Russian business daily Kommersant.
Ostapenko reportedly made the request in a letter sent to Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin.
The move could give Russian manufacturer ISS Reshetnev a monopoly on civilian satellites built for domestic use, impacting foreign suppliers such as France’s Astrium.
Russian satellite operator RSCC, which regularly contracts with Astrium, is thought to have raised strong concerns over the proposal. RSCC and Astrium declined to comment.
Roscosmos did not respond to requests for comment before the press deadline.
Ostapenko, who was previously Russia’s deputy defence minister, became head of the space agency in October when he replaced its embattled chief Vladimir Popovkin.
Popovkin was dismissed from the post after a turbulent two-and-a-half years that saw a series of Proton rocket failures, and a damning assessment that the space agency had only launched 47.1% of the required number of satellites into orbit between 2010 and 2012. Russia’s space issues recently prompted Rogozin to propose consolidating the country’s satellite and rocket designers and manufacturers into a single corporation, called United Rocket and Space Corporation.
