If the space industry of Ukraine does not carry out reforms in the next two years, it will be impossible to restore it. This was stated by the head of the Ukrainian State Space Agency (State Agency) Vladimir Usov. According to him, “desolation reigns in this area, which has turned into the status quo in recent years.”
“If this situation is not changed within a year or two, then there will be no potential, and capacities, and people who are still left, and it will be impossible to restore the lost. While there is a window of opportunity, but it can close quickly enough. If today there is no sharp reform in the space industry, then in a few years it will not be such in Ukraine, ”said Usov in an interview with UNIAN.
At the same time, he noted that the state has not yet contributed to the development of this sector of the economy.
“There is no space program, therefore such situational financing is taking place. Money is never received in full, rarely even 50 percent, so we can say that for this year the budget practically does not provide for the development of the space industry. Exclusively on salary fund, some kind of rent, storage. Neither investment in science, nor in development, nor in the creation of new spacecraft models - there is no money for anything, ”said the director of the State Agency for State Space.
Vladimir Usov said that the agency’s tasks include the urgent adoption of a five-year space program, as well as the restructuring and transformation of Ukrainian enterprises engaged in this industry.
“So that they are managed in a modern, efficient and able to independently manage their resources, cooperate with international players, attract investments, work in the logic of modern businesses, and not in the logic of state enterprises of the 80-90s,” the official explained.
According to Usov, the space program of Ukraine should receive from the state at least 5 billion hryvnias (about $ 180 million) per year.
“Then we can say that the country will have its own independent access to space, there will be its own satellite constellations. But this is a small amount by the standards of European, Asian, as well as American space agencies, ”he added.
For comparison, in the draft state budget for 2020, 670 million hryvnias ($ 24.2 million) were allocated for the space program.
In February 2019, Usov posted a post on Facebook, in which he said that of the seventeen enterprises that are part of the State Agency for State, eight are unprofitable, and two are in the process of liquidation.
A RT source at the State Space Agency noted that despite the presence in the country of such once powerful space enterprises as the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau or Yuzhmash plant, the state does not support the implementation of their projects and does not allocate money to them.
“The space industry in Ukraine is funded on a residual basis. And the situation is getting worse. For example, this year cooperation on the US Antares launch vehicle program is nearing completion and, apparently, it will not be extended. It seems that only a miracle can save the industry. The state has neither the capabilities nor the means to do this, ”the source said.
Space power
In Soviet times, Yuzhmash was one of the leading enterprises in the rocket industry. It produced liquid ballistic missiles R-12 - the most massive in the Soviet Union - and R-14, at that time considered the most powerful in the world.
Since 1995, the plant has been manufacturing Zenit rockets for the Sea Launch project; the first launch took place in 1999. However, in 2014 the production of Zenit launch vehicles at Yuzhmash was suspended. This dealt a severe blow to the enterprise, which, according to the assistant director of the plant, Zenit production brought about 80% of revenue.
In 2017, Yury Radchenko, who was the head of the State Agency for State Management at that time, said that Yuzhmash’s capacities were idle, and from 2014 to 2017, not a single missile was launched.
At the same time, official Kiev continues to talk about Ukraine as a space power. One of the most high-profile such statements was the statement of Petro Poroshenko made by him in 2017. Then, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the first space flight of the Ukrainian cosmonaut Leonid Kadeniuk, Poroshenko said that Ukraine is among the top ten world cosmic powers and each time successfully confirms its position in this field.
“20 years ago there was a historical event for an independent Ukraine. Leonid Kadenyuk aboard the American Columbia spacecraft flew into space. Since then, Ukraine has successfully confirmed its position as a space power, ”the head of state wrote on Facebook.
He also added that Ukrainian launch vehicles put “spacecraft and satellites from different countries around the world” into orbit of the Earth, and the country itself “is an active participant in international space programs”.
At the same time, one of Ukraine's largest space projects - the construction of the Alcantara cosmodrome in Brazil - ended in failure.
In 2003, Brazil and Ukraine signed an agreement on long-term cooperation on the commercial use of the Alcantara space center, under which Cyclone-4 rocket carriers were to be developed.
The Brazilian side provided the creation of a common infrastructure necessary for the delivery and launch of missiles. In turn, the state-owned Ukrainian enterprises Yuzhmash Plant, Yuzhnoye Design Bureau and Dneprotyazhmash company were responsible for the development of the launch vehicle, the preparation of the production base for its manufacture, and the construction of the launch complex.
According to media reports, Ukraine spent almost 4 billion hryvnias on the implementation of the project and servicing loans attracted from 2004 to 2011 under government guarantees.
The launch of the Ukrainian Cyclone scheduled for 2010 has been repeatedly postponed. By 2015, the launch was never made, and Brazil unilaterally ceased cooperation with Kiev. At the same time, the agreement concluded in 2003 did not provide for any sanctions for its non-fulfillment by the parties, therefore the Brazilian Space Agency refused to negotiate with Kiev on cost compensation due to the termination of cooperation.
In October 2019, President Vladimir Zelensky announced that he had invited the President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonar, to restart the project on the use of the Brazilian space center Alcantara.
Unearthly ambition
Nevertheless, Ukraine continues to seek international partners for the joint construction of spaceports, from which it would be possible to launch Cyclone missiles. So, in 2018, the Ukrainian space agency made a similar proposal to Australia. The Ukrainian ambassador, Mykola Kulinich, said it would take five years to implement the project.
“Ukraine is ready to launch rockets at least tomorrow morning - a site is needed. We offer our people and our expertise, and Australia has a suitable place, ”RIA Novosti quoted him as saying.
However, over the past two years from this proposal, the Australian authorities have not shown any interest in cooperating with Ukraine in the field of space.
- Ukrainian spacecraft Yuzhsat
- © Pres-service DKA
At the end of 2019, Yuzhnoye Design Bureau announced that it was carrying out design work to create a whole line of promising Mayak super-heavy space launch vehicles. According to the enterprise, the rockets are planned to be used, among other things, for launching into the “supporting near-earth orbit” of the Ukrainian lunar transport system Earth - Moon - Earth. At the same time, Yuzhnoye still continues to develop the Cyclone-4 launch vehicle.
Earlier, Ukraine was actively involved in all space programs of the USSR. This potential could be developed, but only with Russia, because there were overlapping technological chains, but now Ukraine does not have such opportunities, said Rostislav Ishchenko, president of the Center for System Analysis and Forecasting, in a conversation with RT.
In particular, he recalled that Russia bought the Sea Launch floating spaceport, which was originally intended to provide Yuzhmash with work, because neither Ukraine nor the United States was interested in the contents of this project.
The space industry today, like the rest of Ukraine’s industry, is in a ruined state, retired military analyst Colonel Viktor Litovkin notes.
“Without Russian enterprises, design bureaus and interaction with Russia, the space industry of Ukraine is nothing. However, Ukraine interrupted technical, scientific, technical, military-technical cooperation with Russia and imposed sanctions against it, ”the expert emphasized.
The enterprises that have remained in Ukraine since the times of the USSR cannot independently cope with the tasks facing the space industry, and Western partners are not attracted to joint projects, Viktor Litovkin added.
“I’m not sure that the United States or other partners of Kiev in the West are interested in reviving the comic industry of Ukraine, because they don’t need competitors,” the expert noted.
Representatives of leading political parties of Ukraine share the opinion of experts. So, the source RT in the party "Fatherland" believes that Ukraine is not able at the state level to engage in space technology.
“Unfortunately, the country succeeds only in the trade in raw materials - grain and timber. There is no strategic planning that would support competitive industries. Ukraine again misses its chance to produce advanced products, which will be finally missed in a few years, ”the deputy said.
In turn, the source of RT in the European Solidarity party says that it is impossible to restore the space industry.
“Where to get customers? The European Space Agency has disowned work with Ukrainians, other countries are also not eager to cooperate. The reputation of the country is such that you can not only not receive the goods, but also not return the funds for prepayment. Nobody wants to spend a lot of money on products of incomprehensible quality. Who and what can now guarantee foreign customers in Ukraine? And who can give these guarantees if the ministers have changed several times in a year? ”Concludes the source.