President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues,
We examine the space sector’s development on a regular basis. Today, we agreed to look at ways to enhance the Earth’s remote sensing system.
As you know, the most advanced countries make broad use of this technology. Russia, too, should make more active use of the possibilities it offers for bolstering our national defence and security, and for developing the economy and social sector and raising the quality of governance.
The sensing data obtained are very important for effective work in sectors such as construction, infrastructure, forestry, agriculture, the environment, meteorology, mining, and for disaster prevention and relief.
Experts forecast that demand for provision of data obtained through the Earth’s remote sensing systems will grow substantially over the coming years. In this respect, Russia has indisputable competitive advantages and we should put them to the best possible use.
To do this, we should build up our orbital constellation carrying out earth probing. It should have at least 15 satellites in operation by 2020. This will enable us to monitor Russia’s territory and the entire globe.
The priority task is to make the data obtained available for users in Russia and abroad. We therefore need to consolidate the resources in this sector and improve procedures for certifying data and the rules and regulations for their use in various areas.
Roscosmos is ready to provide these services and provide data from Russia’s Earth remote sensing satellites. We do not rule out the use of foreign satellites too.
At the same time, Roscosmos works primarily on state orders, and so we need to reflect on future commercialisation of services and expanding provision of information of this kind through services on the domestic and foreign markets.
I note in particular that the money earned from these services should be invested in developing our space sector, continued modernisation, and promising space-related research.
Finally, all innovations in developing and operating new digital services using the Earth’s remote sensing data should be tested first in pilot projects.
Let’s discuss these matters today. I would like to hear your proposals.
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