Ukraine’s space sector being commercialized

Before the budget is passed, attempts are usually made to persuade the government and MPs to fund a certain economic sector. Unfortunately, even the space industry, arguably Ukraine’s most hi-tech sector, has to resort to this kind of lobbying — this time under the guise of public hearings.

Nevertheless, the forum’s agenda announced a discussion about the priorities of space exploration. In spite of the budget squeeze, Ukrainian scientists do have something to show in this field. As various speakers emphasized, Ukraine’s rocket and space industry is capable of producing an up-to-date missile system for the Ukrainian Armed Forces within 2.5-years. “This will be a new challenge for the Dnipropetrovsk-based Pivdenne Design Bureau, because it has not dealt with operational tactical missiles before,” said Yurii Alekseiev, Director General of Ukraine’s National Space Agency (NSAU), “but it remains to be seen what decision the government will adopt on funding this project.” Unofficial estimates put the cost of this system at about $5 billion.

Still, the most promising direction in the development of Ukraine’s space sector is international cooperation. According to Eduard Kuznetsov, Deputy Director General of the NSAU, some projects of Ukraine’s national 2007-2011 space program are expected to become part of the first European space program that has now been mapped out. Topping the list of NSAU projects is Ionosat, a system for conducting integrated research into seismic-ionospheric and solar-terrestrial links and their impact on the earth’s technological and biological processes. The program is set to start in 2010.

The NSAU head also singled out such promising fields of cooperation with European counterparts as the establishment of the European global navigation satellite system Galileo, participation in the development of a new European light and heavy launching vehicle, as well as overall modernization of the infrastructure of the National Space Control and Test Center.

Even now there is substantial progress in the Ukrainian-Brazilian sector of space cooperation. To deploy the Tsyklon-4 space rocket system at the Brazilian equatorial launching site, a joint venture, Alcantara-Tsyklon-Space, has been set up to establish a special land-based infrastructure, manufacture launching vehicles, and offer launch-related services. There are plans to launch the first Tsyklon-4 rocket from the Alcantara launching site in 2009.

However, according to Yaroslav Yatskiv, Deputy Chairman of the Space Exploration Board at the National Academy of Sciences, Ukraine is showing “a glaring contradiction between the level of scientific/technological potential and the financial and material support of this potential.” Yatskiv says that “the state allocates 80 million hryvnias a year for space exploration, a mere 10 percent of the cost of one large world-class space project.” At the same time none of the experts is sure that these budget funds will really be provided. There are plans to fund space programs by privatization earnings, but the experience of this year is calling space research into serious question.

The forum participants untiringly spoke about Ukraine’s tremendous potential, noting the exclusive uniqueness of most space instruments, equipment, and discoveries made by our scientists. It was stressed, however, that unless our space industry is reliably financed it will have only a slim chance of success in the high-stakes competition in the international market.

In the meantime, there is still no domestic market in which the achievements of our superior national space technologies could expand, although experts are sure that such a market could overcome taxpayers’ skeptical attitude to the space sector, which allegedly “swallows” millions of hryvnias while a considerable part of our population lives below the poverty line. Kuznetsov thinks that this viewpoint is very popular among Ukrainians and only commercialization of space technologies can reverse this trend.

A center that will tackle this problem will be set up by the end of this year with assistance from the European Space Agency. The NSAU intends to sign a cooperation agreement with the French space agency and NASA (USA). A new Ukrainian carrier rocket, the Mayak, may enter the American market of commercial launches in just three years’ time. According to Oleksandr Kushnariov, chief of the Pivdenne Design Bureau’s project report section, an unidentified well-known private US company has commissioned the future launch. Kushnarev thinks that the Mayak has excellent prospects in the world’s space market. In addition to US customers, the Asian region is also showing some interest.

As Yatskiv stressed in his comment to The Day, the development of a consumer market for space technologies will eventually have practical significance for the ordinary Ukrainian. One example of the application of cutting-edge space technology is so-called precision farming, which indicates the amount of fertilizers that should be used in certain areas. “These technologies can also be of use for tourists, land sale managers, and farmers.”