Enlarge / Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin during a flight to the Vostochny cosmodrome, on September 4, 2021. (credit: ALEXEY DRUZHININ/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)
Russia plans to slash funding for spaceflight activities during the coming three-year period, from 2022 to 2024. The cuts will come to about 16 percent annually, several Russian publications, including Finanz. ru , report. (These Russian-language articles were translated for Ars by Rob Mitchell. )
For 2022, the state budget for space activities will be set at 210 billion rubles ($2. 9 billion), a cut of 40. 3 billion rubles ($557 million) from the previous year. Similar cuts will follow in subsequent years. The most significant decreases will certainly be in areas such as “manufacturing-technological activities” and “cosmodrome development. ” Funding for “scientific research plus development” was zeroed out entirely.
The publications say Russian President Vladimir Putin is unhappy with the performance of Russia’s space program. At a space industry meeting upon September 29, they report, Putin criticized the industry’s failure to fulfill directives on long-term goals within the space sphere. In 2020, for example, Roscosmos failed to hit 30 of the 83 stated goals of the national space program.
Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments
