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Russia needs over $200 mln a year to finance space research programs, Roscosmos chief says

Roscosmos has requested a meeting with Putin on the eve of Cosmonautics Day for a discussion to confirm space research program financing

Head of Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin Yegor Aleyev/TASS

Head of Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin

© Yegor Aleyev/TASS

KHIMKI /Moscow Region/, March 17. /TASS/. Russia needs at least 15-16 billion rubles ($205-219 million) a year to finance fundamental space programs, Head of Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin said on Wednesday.

"No less than 15-16 billion rubles are needed annually for fundamental science," Rogozin said.

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Roscosmos has requested a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the eve of Cosmonautics Day for a discussion to confirm space research program financing, he added.

Today the Luna-25 lunar mission has been financed in full while the Luna-26 and Luna-27 expeditions have been financed only by about a half, Rogozin said.

The Russian space agency Roscosmos plans to send the Luna-25 automatic station to the Moon in October 2021. The Luna-25 will become the first domestic spacecraft in the country’s modern history on the surface of the Earth’s natural satellite. Roscosmos has chosen October 1 as the basic and October 30 as the backup date for the spacecraft’s launch.

The press office of the Lavochkin Research and Production Association earlier told TASS that the Luna-25 spacecraft would be made and its tests would be completed in the summer of 2021.

The Luna-26 mission is due to be launched in 2024, Luna-27 in 2025 and Luna-28 in 2027-2028.

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