Russian officials should seize control over companies producing key satellite components like radiation-hardened electronics, the head of the Russian Roscosmos space agency, Dmitry Rogozin, said on Tuesday.
Russia is looking to “double” its satellite fleet, Rogozin said during a meeting with the staff of a satellite-manufacturing plant that is part of Roscosmos. Moscow would like to have more satellites providing a variety of services ranging from satellite communications for the Armed Forces to facilitating broadband internet access and “the internet of things,” he said, according to a statement by the space agency.
The Roscosmos chief admitted that satellite manufacturing remains “an issue of major concern” due to the lack of certain components, like radiation-hardened microelectronics. “This is our weak link,” Rogozin added, calling on this issue to be resolved.