The current globalization has given rise to the necessity of commercializing the space industry and making it just another sector of the economy, Director General of the National Space Agency of Ukraine Oleksandr Nehoda said at a February 13 press conference. With this in view, he continued, the presidents of Ukraine and the Russian Federation discussed the prospects of further cooperation and identified its priorities, namely, scientific research and the development of the new models of equipment. Taking into account that reciprocal supplies of equipment between space enterprises make up 40-60%, the two sides should be interested in deeper cooperation. Mr. Nehoda noted it is planned to intensify cooperation by setting up joint Ukrainian-Russian ventures, which will allow Russian and Ukraine not only to develop cooperation but also to avoid building industrial facilities which would duplicate the already-existing ones.
Besides, the director general said that, after studying the requirements of Ukraine’s domestic market, his agency’s experts had already drawn up a program to employ space technologies in the production of high-tech products to be sold on domestic and foreign markets in 2001-2005. The program consists of 165 projects. For example, it is planned to build and install megawatt-class wind power plants, with wide use of the rich experience of the National Space Agency in aerodynamics, electrodynamics, and computerized control. It is intended to bring the share of wind power to 25- 30% of the total electric energy by 2030, which will in turn make it possible to reduce imports of oil, natural gas, and to improve the environmental situation. It is also planned to launch the production of new-generation tractors and city transport.
Asked about the future of Ukrainian astronautics, Mr. Nehoda pointed out that today no countries, except for China, are raising the question of launching manned spacecraft of their own. Instead, the intention is to go into outer space by way of joint international projects. In this matter, Ukraine cooperates with both NASA and the Russian Space Agency.
