Russia plans to have 2,600 telecom, Earth remote sensing satellites in orbit by 2036 - Roscosmos head

MOSCOW. July 3 (Interfax) - Russia's in-orbit constellation might include up to 2,600 satellites by 2036, Roscosmos State Space Corporation CEO Yury Borisov said.

"We are carrying out all measures planned in the program, i.e. Russia's in-orbit constellation of communications and Earth remote sensing satellites will increase to 2,600 by 2036, with commercial satellites accounting for 35% of them," Borisov said in the State Duma on Wednesday.

Russia's in-orbit constellation consists of 244 satellites today, he said.

"The total capacity of organizations producing spacecraft stands at up to 30 launch vehicles of different categories and up to 40 satellites of different applications per year. Their total revenue in 2023 was around 413 billion rubles. The average workforce productivity is 2.3 million rubles per person. On the whole, despite the negative effect of the unprecedented sanctions pressure from unfriendly countries, it is possible to say that the industry's operations are relatively stable," Borisov said.

Roscosmos plans to receive revenue of 492 billion rubles in 2024, according to data from its presentation.

Projects to build space systems for partner countries account for over 70% of Roscosmos' export proceeds, Borisov said.

"Over 70% of export proceeds are received today from the creation of satellite systems in the interests of foreign clients. We are discussing the creation of satellite constellations and space rocket systems in the interests of foreign partners using their territorial location. As a rule, these are countries that are close to the Equator," he said.

Despite their continuous interest in outer space, these countries do not have stable budget financing for their space exploration programs, a circumstance that seriously complicates the process of funding projects with foreign customers, Borisov said.

Russia's participation in international projects "with so-called unfriendly countries" declined considerably against the backdrop of sanctions, he said.

"We lost contracts, and, as a result, off-budget revenue halved compared to the previous period," Borisov said.

Adapting its international activities to today's geopolitical realities is now one of the key tasks facing Roscosmos, he said.