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Deputy PM: Russia has potential to regain space leadership

KOROLEV, Moscow region, December 17 (Itar-Tass) - Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin considers the degree of the country’s space exploration efficiency could be far higher than it is today.

“The degree of our outer space exploration efficiency is still quit low. We are far behind other space powers in this respect,” he told the expert council of the State Military Industrial Committee at Tuesday’s meeting.

Rogozin said Russia’s share of the space services market, which is all in all estimated at around 180 billion US dollars, was smaller than 3 percent and this share by no means matched the country’s ambitions as leading space power. He is sure Russia had everything necessary not only to eliminate this backlog, but also to regain its position among the chief space explorers.

Rogozin believes Russia has a great potential for coping with the most ambitious tasks, for the country is among the few ones possessing the full cycle technology of developing, manufacturing, launching, and controlling spacecraft.

Determining the space program’s usefulness for the nation is one of the country’s major tasks today. The scientific part of the program may as well be the biggest one, for it will increase the prestige of Russia as a space superpower. Among the other important tasks Rogozin named the prevention of asteroid-related risks and the creation of a permanent base on the Moon and interplanetary transport vehicles.

Rogozin stressed the idea the demand for pragmatic solutions of economic issues was of greatest importance and relevance today. Such issues encompass the creation of a satellite constellation for remote sensing of the Earth and map-making, as well as for navigation and communication systems.

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