Profile | Yuriy Boyko, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine for Ecology, Natural Resources, Energy and Space.
Hello reader!
Below is an interview
with Mr. Yuriy Boyko, Vice Prime Minister of
Ukraine on Ecology, Natural Resources, Energy and Space, published day (11/25)
on the website "Space
News".
Duda Falcão
Features
Profile | Yuriy Boyko, Vice Prime
Minister of Ukraine for Ecology, Natural
Resources, Energy and Space.
By Warren Ferster
Nov. 25, 2013
Yuriy Boyko. Credit: SpaceNews photo by Kate Patterson |
Ukraine has a solid foothold in the global space industry and is looking
to expand that presence.
Through its Yuzhnoye/Yuzhmash industry flagship, the former Soviet
republic is a major supplier of hardware for rockets including the Sea Launch
Zenit 3SL, Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Antares and the Dnepr, a converted ICBM
used primarily to launch small satellites. Yuzhnoye/Yuzhmash also is working on
the Cyclone 4 rocket, which is slated to begin launching commercial satellites
from Brazil’s equatorial Alcantara launch facility in 2015 as part of a joint
venture between the Brazilian and Ukrainian governments.
Yuriy Boyko recently led a high-level Ukrainian delegation that traveled
to Washington and Houston for space-related discussions with senior U.S.
government officials — including NASA Administrator Charles Bolden — and
industry representatives. He was accompanied by, among others, Yuriy Alekseyev,
head of the Ukrainian space agency.
The primary purpose of the visit, according to Boyko, was to gauge the
direction of the U.S. civil space program and explore ways Ukraine might
participate. Among the capabilities Ukraine brings to the table, in addition to
proven rocket capabilities, is radiation shielding technology developed during
the Cold War, Boyko and Alekseyev said.
Ukraine also is shopping its wares to industry. Alekseyev said the
RD-861K engine, which was developed for the Cyclone 4’s upper stage and has
been fully tested on the ground in Ukraine, might someday be a good fit for
Antares.
Boyko spoke with SpaceNews Editor
Warren Ferster in between meetings with government officials in Washington.
What is the primary purpose of your visit?
We need to understand the whole policy of NASA because America is the
leader of space programs and we want to understand what way our space society
will go in the future. And we want to understand the place of Ukraine in this.
After that we met with companies who are carrying out these policies in order
to understand if it’s possible for us to do business with these companies in
order to improve our scientific potential.
Are there any new initiatives or agreements to report?
No, but our dialogue with Mr. Bolden was very positive. We have a
framework agreement between the Cabinet of ministers of Ukraine and the
government of the United States about our connections in civil space programs.
And we are trying to understand the plans of NASA and if it’s possible for us
at the government level to be partners in this plan.
Can you give an example of where you see potential?
What I heard from Mr. Bolden that was very interesting was about NASA’s
Mars program. It’s a huge and ambitious program for all of mankind. One of the
industry representatives at our lunch said such a huge program may be organized
by all of the nations with space programs, not only America. We are ready to
take our steps toward this program because our specialists have advanced
research in radiation protection. This may be an area where Ukraine can
contribute its expertise the international consortium that will be behind the
NASA Mars effort.
Does Ukraine have any desire to participate in the international space
station program?
Of course. We have the desire to be partners on programs which are being
realized by NASA. We are realizing several programs I mentioned with American
companies, including Antares. We want to continue this.
What are your top priorities in space?
Ukraine is one of the countries that have the full range of space
capabilities and it gives us huge potential for being a member of the world
space community. Our priority will be to increase our participation
international programs. Today huge and ambitious plans for space programs may
be realized only by several nations because one nation, no matter how powerful,
cannot realize ambitious and difficult projects. So we must be members of this
world space society.
How much funding per year is Ukraine allocating to space?
Not so much — it’s approximately between $400 million and $500 million
per year. But we have commercial projects that provide much more money for the
space industry without government support. Government money is mainly going
toward scientific investigations.
How much money is Ukraine drawing annually from its commercial projects
such as Sea Launch and Antares?
It’s approximately $600 million per year but that’s not just from
America. It’s also connected with Brazil, it’s connected with Russia, so it’s
several projects.
How much money is Ukraine allocating per year to the Alcantara launch
project with Brazil?
They have a program of approximately $1.5 billion for three years. But
it’s both sides — it’s Brazil and Ukraine. So it means that we must put $750
million from our side toward this project.
Your colleague, Mr. Alekseyev, said the program is behind schedule
primarily due to weather-related construction delays at Alcantara. Has funding
also been an issue?
Today we are bringing new technology and new infrastructure to the
project so it became more expensive, but that’s normal. It began in 2006. Since
that time the situation changed — it’s more expensive than it was before.
Will the government continue to make this a priority?
Of course. Recently we’ve gotten the decision about government
guarantees for the second phase of our financing. So it’s our priority to
complete this project because it’s important for Brazil and for us. Brazil is
getting a place from which they can send rockets to space and for us it’s a
place for newer rockets and newer and newer equipment — it’s one of the dynamic
projects for us.
Are you confident of a first launch of the Cyclone 4 from Alcantara in
2015?
We hope that it will be finished by the end of 2014.
Does Ukraine plan to use Alcantara as a launch site for its own
scientific projects?
Mainly it will be for commercial projects, but when you have such a huge
project with new technologies it will be proposed. But first of all it’s
commercial.
There are a lot of commercial launch companies out there. Can you make a
business of this given all the competition?
There are many ambitious countries in this region who are ready to pay
for this project. Brazil is only the beginning.
So you think other South American countries will flock to this launch
site?
I hope so.
There have been some questions about the future availability of the Dnepr
rocket. Can you address those?
There were difficult negotiations [with Russia] because there were many
technical problems and technical questions, but one rocket was sent to space
two months ago and we are continuing this program with another two.
How many more Dnepr rockets are there to be available for future space
launches?
Today there are 16.
What is the Ukrainian government prepared to do to ensure a sufficient
supply of rocket hardware for the Sea Launch venture?
Sea Launch has sent more than 30 rockets to space and almost all were
successful. Of course we consider this program one of the priorities, but it’s
a commercial project so it must be viable on its own.
Would the Ukrainian government be willing to offer Sea Launch financial
assistance if that’s necessary to keep the company in business?
First of all this is a fully commercial project. The government is out
of this process. We must support the companies involved in this project, but
I’m not ready to say that the government will pay money to this project because
it’s fully separate, it’s profitable and it’s living its own commercial life.
But as a government of course we are interested that this project be continued.
You have a fairly diverse portfolio. How much time and effort are you
devoting to space-related matters?
It’s not about me — space is a priority for our government. All of the
government, including the prime minister, pays attention to the space industry
because space draws the most educated people and they raise the scientific and
educational levels of several branches of activity.
Ukraine’s space industry is closely intertwined with Russia’s. Do you
view Russia mainly as a partner or a competitor in space activity?
First of all we are partners and the accidents which happened in Russia
also created pain for our specialists because they’re mainly common projects.
We also have competition in our connections but mainly they are partners and we
help each other because we have a common history and common specialists as
everybody knows from the former Soviet Union. And that’s why we are trying to
do business together and we have several good projects and programs.
You also have had some discussions with China. What are the
possibilities there?
They have a great interest in big propulsion systems so we’re consulting
with them, especially on the larger ballistic capabilities for satellite
launchers.
Source: WebSite Space News
- http://www.spacenews.com/
Comentário: Sabe leitor, o que mais me chamou a atenção
nessa entrevista foi quando o vice-primeiro ministro da Ucrânia diz: “Brazil is
getting a place from which they can send rockets to space and for us it’s a
place for newer rockets and newer and newer equipment — it’s one of the dynamic
projects for us.”. Veja você
leitor que na visão do político ucraniano esse acordo é benéfico para o Brasil
pelo fato de estamos viabilizando um local para lançamentos de foguetes,
enquanto para eles as oportunidades são infinitas. É triste leitor observar até onde chega à
estupidez e a irresponsabilidade desses políticos populistas energúmenos que
estão conduzindo o nosso programa espacial ao desastre. Enquanto na Ucrânia a
sua indústria está em franco desenvolvimento e gerando empregos graças em parte
a esse acordo desastroso, ao Brasil restará à poluição de seu meio ambiente, o risco de acidentes e a inviabilização do seus
projetos de veículos lançadores, e ainda existe gente que apoia esse desatino,
uma vergonha. Veja o que diz em seu último comentário postado no blog um dos maiores especialistas brasileiros do
PEB (clicando aqui), revoltado que está no que ele chama de “Crime Lesa
Pátria”, e tudo isso caro leitor motivado por questões políticas de compensação
partidária, num acordo que foi conduzido inicialmente por um debiloide e apoiado por um
humorista. Lamentável!
Tive que passar aqui para registrar...
ResponderExcluirSegundo as notícias que chegam da Ucrânia, dá pra entender porque as coisas são como são.
Parece que o governo de lá é bem semelhante a esse daqui (não bastassem as raízes políticas deles). O governo de lá está reprimindo manifestações contra ele de forma muito violenta.
Não dá para separar as decisões tomadas em áreas técnicas das relações políticas.
Enquanto a Ucrânia se dá bem às nossas custas, a China está enviando uma sonda para a Lua e a Índia enviando outra para Marte.
A nós, só resta lamentar as oportunidades perdidas.
Lamentável.