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| Державне космічне агентство України | |
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| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | SSAU |
| Formed | February 1992 (as National Space Agency of Ukraine) |
| Type | Space agency |
| Headquarters | Kyiv |
| Administrator | Volodymyr Ben' |
| Annual budget | $80.4 million (2019)[1] |
| Website | www.nkau.gov.ua |
TheState Space Agency of Ukraine (SSAU;Ukrainian:Державне космічне агентство України (ДКАУ),romanized: Derzhavne kosmichne ahentstvo Ukrainy) is theUkrainian governmentagency responsible forspace policy andprograms. It was formed on 29 February 1992, and was based on theSoviet space program infrastructure that remained inUkraine following thedissolution of the Soviet Union. It was called theNational Space Agency of Ukraine (NSAU; Національне космічне агентство України, НКАУ) until 9 December 2010.[2]
The agency succeeded the Soviet space program along with theRussian Federal Space Agency, which inherited the biggest share.Dnipro, also known as Rocket City, was one of the Soviet space rocket manufacturing centers, while the cities of Kyiv and Kharkiv provided technological support. Those remnants of the Soviet program in Ukraine were reorganized into their own space agency. The SSAU does not specialize in crewed astronautical programs.
Ukrainian spacecraft include a few types for domestic and foreign use and international cooperation. Ukraine has supplied Russia with military satellites and their launch vehicles, a relationship unique in the world. The agency does not have its ownspaceport. It used the resources of the Russian Federal Space Agency until 2014. Launches were conducted atKazakhstan'sBaikonur and Russia'sPlesetsk Cosmodromes. After theRussian annexation of Crimea, launches were conducted onSea Launch's floating platform, which was soon mothballed. SSAU has ground control and tracking facilities in Kyiv and a control center inDunaivtsi (Khmelnytskyi Oblast). Facilities inYevpatoria,Crimea, had to be abandoned with the 2014Russian occupation of Crimea. Since the start of theRusso-Ukrainian War in 2014, the agency has been transitioning its cooperation efforts away from Russia, with participation in other space programs.
Along with theUkrainian Defense Industry conglomerate and theAntonov Aeronautical Scientific-Technical Complex, the agency is a major state-owned component of thedefense industry of Ukraine.[citation needed]
SSAU is a civil body in charge of co-ordinating the efforts of government installations, research, and industrial companies (mostly state-owned). Several space-related institutes and industries are directly subordinated to SSAU. However, it is not a united and centralized system immediately participating in all stages and details of space programs (likeNASA in the United States). Aspecial space force in themilitary of Ukraine is planned to launch by December 2025.
The agency overseeslaunch vehicle andsatellite programs, co-operative programs with theRussian Aviation and Space Agency, theEuropean Space Agency,NASA, and commercial ventures. International participation includesSea Launch and theGalileo positioning system.
Space activities in Ukraine have been pursued over a 10-year span in strict accordance with National Space Programs. Each of them was intended to address the relevant current issues to preserve and further develop the space potential of Ukraine.The First Program (1993–1997) was called upon to keep up the research and industrial space-related potentiality for the benefit of the national economy and state security as well as to be able to break into the international market of space services. The Second Program (1998–2002) was aimed at creating an internal market of space services, conquering the international space markets by presenting in-house products and services (including launch complexes and spacecraft, space-acquired data, space system components) and integrating Ukraine into the worldwide space community.
The National Space Program of Ukraine for 2003-2007 (NSPU), which was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (the Parliament of Ukraine) on October 24, 2002, outlines the main goals, assignments, priorities, and methods of maintaining space activity in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers announced its plans on 13 April 2007 to allocate 312 million euros to the National Space Program for 2007–2011.
Specific programs
Goals of the program
Prior to Ukraine's independence and the creation of the agency many Ukrainian people active in spaceflight and spaceflight productions were instrumental in theSoviet space program.
The agency is a minor descendant of the Soviet space program, most of which passed to theRussian Federal Space Agency. The agency took over all of the former Soviet defense industrial complex that was located on the territory of Ukraine. The space industry of Ukraine started in 1937 when a group of scientists led by Heorhiy Proskura launched a large stratospheric rocket nearKharkiv.
In 1954, the Soviet government transformed the car producerYuzhmash (Dnipropetrovsk) into a rocket company. Since that time, the city of Dnipropetrovsk has been known in theAnglophone world as the Soviet Rocket City.
As of April 2009, the Ukrainian National Space Agency was planning to launch a Ukrainiancommunications satellite by September 2011 and aSich-2 before the end of 2011.[3]
The Ukrainian builtRD-843 engine is used for the upper stage of the EuropeanVega rocket.[4]
The first stage of the U.S.Antares rocket was developed by theYuznoye SDO and produced byYuzhmash.[5]
On 8 March 2025, an employee of the Agency was arrested bySBU for alleged espionage on Ukrainian defense properties for Russia. He was tried under martial law and sentenced to the maximum 15 years in prison with confiscation of property.[6]
Most of the enterprises are located inDnipro orKyiv
Ukraine continues further development and modernization of launch vehicles that were created during the Soviet period, primarily the Cyclone and the Zenith. There also was an attempt to redesign a former intercontinental ballistic missile as the Dnepr rocket. Almost all its launch vehicles are heavily dependent on Russian components.
During 1991–2007, a total of 97 launches of Ukrainian LV were conducted, including, but not limited to launches on the Sea Launch mobile launch pad. In 2006 Ukrainian launch vehicles accounted for 12% of all launches into space in the world.
Ukrainian companiesYuzhnoye Design Office andYuzhmash have engineered and produced seven types of launch vehicles. Adding strapon boosters to launch vehicles may expand the family of Mayak, which is the latest launch vehicle developed.
Statistics of Launches of LVs produced in cooperation with Ukrainian enterprises. State Space Agency of Ukraine
The Svityaz, Oril and Sura aerospace rocket complexes (ASRC) is intended for launching of various spacecraft (SC) into circular, elliptic and high-altitude circular, including the geostationary (GSO), orbits. Svityaz ASC represents a unique system that allows launch of spacecraft without utilization of complicated ground infrastructure. The Svityaz was to be launched directly from amodified version ofAn-225 Mriya,[9] a Ukrainian airplane and airplane carrier that was the largest one in the world, prior to its destruction during attacks in 2022. The modified Mriya, that was to be used to carry Svityaz, was designated with the extension code of An-225-100.
The aircraft is equipped with special devices to secure the LV above the fuselage. The operators and onboard equipment are located in the pressure-tight cabins. The Svityaz LV is being created on the basis of units, aggregates and systems of Zenit LV. It consists of three stages of non-toxic propellants: liquid oxygen and kerosene. The launch vehicle would be injected into the geostationary orbit using a solid-propellant apogee stage.
Sea Launch was a joint venture space transportation company, partially owned by companies in Ukraine[10] which handle operations for the National Space Agency. Sea Launch offered a mobile sea platform, used for spacecraft launches of commercial payloads on specialized UkrainianZenit 3SL rockets. The main advantage of the floating cosmodrome is its placement directly on the equator. It allows taking the greatest advantage of Earth's rotation to deliver payloads into orbit at low expense.
Within the framework of the project the space rocket complex was developed, which consists of four components:
Sea Launch mothballed its ships and put operations on long-term hiatus in 2014.
Ukraine does not have its own spaceports, but leases elsewhere.
Ukraine produced theSich andOkeanEarth observation satellites, as well as a few other types of satellites and theCoronas solar observatory in cooperation with Russia.
The SSAU currently is working on further Sich series satellites: Sich-2M, Sich-3, Sich-3-O and Sich-3-P; Lybid M and anUkrselena satellite to fly around theMoon in 2017 (postponed).[13] Theoptical satelliteSich-2-30 [uk] was successfully launched on 13 January 2022.[14]
Prior to Ukraine's independence, several Ukrainians flew in space under the Soviet flag. UkrainianPavlo Popovych was the fourth cosmonaut in space, in 1962.
The first Ukrainian to fly in space under the Ukrainian flag wasLeonid K. Kadenyuk on 13 May 1997. He was apayload specialist on NASA'sSTS-87 Space Shuttle mission. It was an international spaceflight mission, involving crew members fromNASA (USA), NSAU (Ukraine) andNASDA (Japan).
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