MOSCOW, April 16. /TASS/. Russia needs to heavily upgrade its space industry and improve the sector’s management model, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a Security Council meeting on Tuesday.

"It is obvious that it is necessary to fundamentally modernize the rocket and space industry, introduce the modern model of managing the production process, R&D work and learn to use the results of space activity in all the spheres of our life by a factor more efficiently," the Russian leader stressed.

The issues of improving state policy in the sphere of space activity are extremely important, the Russian leader said. Leading positions in space exploration are essential for solving national development tasks, ensuring the country’s security, its technological and economic competitiveness, Putin noted.

The Russian president believes that Russia has broad experience in developing and manufacturing space rocketry, implementing flights and large-scale scientific programs in orbit. However, Russia needs constantly to build up this potential, Putin stressed.

The Russian leader drew attention to the need to involve the space industry’s potential for solving tasks in the sphere of telecommunications, communications, transport, medicine, housing and utilities. "Building up exports is a key area," the Russian leader pointed out.

"In expert estimates, the world space market is worth $183 billion annually and is set to further expand in coming years and decades," he said.

Putin urged the government, the agencies concerned and the Russian space agency Roscosmos to maximally use available competitive advantages instead of marking time.

The Russian leader said it was necessary to complete Roscosmos’s reorganization and start working towards specific results, solving obvious problems that impeded the space industry’s development.

"For example, the price and time parameters projected in drafting space projects frequently lack due substantiation and, as a result, the planned timeframe is shifted while budget expenses increase. This has happened many times in recent years," the head of state said, calling for more active efforts to remove restraining factors.