MOSCOW. Feb 15 (Interfax) - The demand for Russia's Soyuz manned spaceships and Progress resupply ships will remain stable in the upcoming years, yet the increasing rivalry against U.S. private companies will eventually complicate things for Russian manned space programs, the Energia Corporation said in the Q4 2017 report.
The demand for manned and unmanned space transportation services is gradually increasing on the global market, and the shutdown of the U.S. Space Shuttle program has ensured Russia's monopoly on the market of manned space flights, the corporation said.
"The demand for Soyuz manned spaceships and Progress resupply ships made by the Energia Corporation will remain stable in the upcoming years (at least as long as the International Space Station is used)," the report said.
The demand derives from Russia's international obligation to transport international crews and cargo, including fuel, to the ISS, the report said. At the same time, the annual number of Progress missions has reduced to three consistent with the Russian federal space program for 2016-2025. Meanwhile, NASA has been able to independently transport cargo to and from the ISS by Dragon resupply ships since 2012, and the Cygnus resupply ship has been in use since 2013.
"There has been a decline in NASA's orders for transporting cargo by Progress resupply ships as a result. Given that U.S. private companies are trying to design manned spaceships, the Russian monopoly on the market of manned space flights will be short-lived, and the rivalry will be tightening," the report said.
For instance, NASA hopes to start operating CST-100 Starliner and Crew Dragon commercial manned spaceships built by Boeing and Space X, respectively, in 2019. Demonstration test flights of SpaceX's Crew Dragon commercial spaceship are due to take place in August 2018 in the unmanned mode, and the ship may take off with a crew onboard in December 2018. Meanwhile, Boeing will test its CST-100 Starliner commercial spaceship on the unmanned mode in August 2018 and in the manned mode in November 2018.
"The corporation has no rivals in this field of activity on the domestic market. The demand for corporation services in the maintenance and operation of the ISS, including international Earth and space exploration projects, and construction of new ISS units (MLM-U, UM and NEM modules) and new products for manned space flights, including the prospective manned spaceship and deep space exploration vehicles, will remain steady," Energia said.
The development of Russia's manned space flight projects is liked to the design of a next-generation manned spaceship and a resupply ship with a higher lifting capacity, it said.
"Industry risks faced by the corporation include the increased cost price of products and its ratio to the relevant global indicators. The demand for space services involving automatic vehicles is on the rise on the Russian and world markets," the report said.
Energia is expecting tighter rivalry against the world's leading spacecraft producers and the appearance of new global actors on the market of automatic spacecraft's production and launch in countries demonstrating high development rates, such as China, India, and Japan, the report said.