Contradictions In The Russian Space Program: Changing Priorities During The Economic Crisis

Discussion on the financing of new Federal Space Program (FSP) of Russia on 2016-2025 revealed a number of inconsistencies in the goals and tasks of aerospace industry development. Due to the downturn in the Russian economy (devaluation of the ruble, imposing international sanctions, and so forth), the amount of finance of the FSP has been reduced by approximately 30% in relation to the original inquiry. This has been achieved by rescheduling the implementation of some high-cost projects for the period after 2020 with the intention of resuming its funding later in full volume. However, with the expected inflation rate, the actual funding gap in the FSP in 2016-2020 may amount to approximately 60% of the required funds. Furthermore, the cost of implementing the projects on hold will increase considerably after 2020 due to the necessity of recovering the scientific and technological infrastructure of the projects that will be regressing as a result of underfunding. Consequently, if the Russian Space Agency does not change the priorities of the FSP, that might lead to abandon a much larger number of promising long-term projects. This will adversely affect the long-term prospects of the Russian space industry and the retention of its leading position in the global market.