Russian private space company Success Rockets to set up subsidiary in China
MOSCOW. Aug 20 (Interfax) - Russian privately owned space company Success Rockets has signed an agreement on cooperation in space exploration with China's Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Success Rockets general director Oleg Mansurov told Interfax.
"The plan is that we will open a subsidiary in Hainan. As part of the Chinese government's plans to develop Hainan Island, in particular the Wenchang Space Launch Site, a space cluster is being formed there, and we are becoming its residents," Mansurov said.
"What do we need it for? First, it is access to Chinese technologies and Chinese capital. Technologies are needed for the mass production of both launch vehicles and small spacecraft. Second, there is a need for investments, because investments in the private space sector in China stood at nearly $1 billion last year. In Russia it is difficult to raise investments for the private space sector," he said.
The first launch from the Chinese space launch site will take place no earlier than 2024, Mansurov said, adding that launch vehicles would be developed together with Chinese colleagues.
"We are interested in transfers of technologies, including Chinese technologies. But there it is more about spacecraft, component parts and electronics," he said.
At the same time, Success Rockets does not intend to drop plans to develop its own launch vehicles, Mansurov said.
"We are not dropping these plans. One thing does not stand in the way of another. We are totally unbiased in this sense. We are assessing where it is more economically feasible for us to carry out launches - launch some spacecraft in Russia, some spacecraft possibly in the U.S., some spacecraft in China," he said.
Success Rockets announced on Friday that a few days ago it signed an agreement with China's Chamber of Commerce and Industry on cooperation in space exploration in Chinese territory. The press service for the Russian company said that the agreement was signed as part of preparations for the Eastern Economic Forum.
Success Rockets corporation specializes in building superlight-class suborbital and orbital launch vehicles, small spacecraft, Earth remote sensing and communications satellite constellations on their basis, and orbital transfer vehicles.