Russia will spend billions of dollars over the next three years to consolidate its leading role in the space industry, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.
The former president, quoted by local news agencies, told a government meeting that Russia, which accounts for 40% of all space launches, would earmark more than 200 billion roubles ($7.68 billion) from the federal budget for development of the space industry from 2009 to 2011.
Russia鈥檚 Soyuz crewed spacecraft and Progress cargo vehicles have been the main workhorses serving the International Space Station (ISS) since the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated on atmospheric re-entry in 2003.
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鈥淚t is obvious that this status of a reliable international partner should be constantly upheld,鈥� Putin told the special meeting in Krasnoyarsk region in Siberia.
NASA plans to mothball its entire space shuttle fleet by 2011.
鈥淓vidently . . . between 2011 and 2016, the United States will not possess a new spaceship to replace the space shuttle,鈥� news agencies quoted Anatoly Perminov, the head of Russia鈥檚 space agency Roscosmos, as telling Putin.
鈥淪o Russian spacecraft will bear the brunt of transportation and maintenance works, as well as replacing [ISS] crews and launching European and Japanese cargo ships from time to time.鈥�
Putin said Russia鈥檚 group of space satellites had reached more than 100 units and would rise steadily. But he also called for more efficient use of space achievements, warning otherwise Russia 鈥渕ight lose a promising market on its own land鈥�.
He said the development of a national satellite navigation system was a priority area. Other spheres could be geological research from space, as well as ecological monitoring of farming, forest and water resources.
