MOSCOW, March 28. /TASS/. The Russian Arctic could be a proving ground for legislatively allowing and testing the mechanism of state-private partnership in the space sphere, CEO of Zond Holding satellite communications company Viktor Doniants told TASS on Tuesday.
The chief executive made this statement ahead of the 4th International Arctic -Territory of Dialog Forum that will be held in Arkhangelsk in northwest Russia on March 29-30.
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Today, state monopoly on space activities exists in Russia, the chief executive said.
"Perhaps, the Arctic should, indeed, be made ‘a proving ground’ where it will be possible to talk about state-private partnership in the sphere of space activities," he said.
As the Zond-Holding head said, the international experience in the space sphere demonstrates the need for drawing private investment into it.
"Space activity is very capital-intensive and its recoupment period is very long. Today the state is depriving itself of the monopoly on space activity on its own initiative in such serious space entities as the European Space Agency, and also in such countries as the United States, Canada or India," Doniants said.
The United States is the leader in this field, the chief executive said. "They have the national space agency NASA and have approved a state program listing the types of activities, in which the state voluntarily deprives itself of the monopoly status. Satellite communications is among such areas there," he said.
Commenting on the possibility of using the Arctic for testing the state-private partnership mechanism in the Russian space sphere, the head of the satellite communications company noted that the task of easing the state monopoly in the space field would be solved easier, if it was split into components.
"I hope that times are changing and the space sphere will eventually be de-monopolized and private business will gain access to it," he said.