The authorities will pay Roscosmos for Earth sensing data

The State Duma has adopted a bill according to which authorities will buy, rather than receive for free, Earth remote sensing data. Roscosmos will be the only supplier of remote sensing data, including purchasing data from private companies. Experts believe that the commercialization of Roscosmos’ work can stimulate the development of the domestic satellite constellation. At the same time, market participants fear its consolidation around a state corporation, which “will limit competition and innovation in this area.”

The State Duma in the third reading adopted a bill that amends the laws on space activities, government procurement and Roscosmos. It follows from the text that Roscosmos will be able to sell Earth remote sensing (ERS) data to authorities from the federal fund, to which data from non-governmental spacecraft will also be transferred. According to the bill, Roscosmos becomes the only supplier of remote sensing data for government agencies. The Ministry of Defense will be able to receive remote sensing data free of charge.

The State Duma explained to Kommersant that private companies will sell images from their devices through forward contracts with Roscosmos. “All images will go to the federal data fund, operated by Roscosmos. From the fund, the corporation will sell photographs to the market, to all consumers, with the exception of law enforcement agencies, Rosreestr and Rosatom, to whom the data is provided free of charge,” said Denis Kravchenko, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy.

The deputy emphasized that “no one restricts private and public companies from creating their own services or products at a deep level of processing, that is, where there is analytical information, which will make it possible to earn money.”

The financial and economic justification for the bill states that the planned tax deductions from the commercial sale of remote sensing data and services in 2026 will amount to 42 million rubles. and will grow to 80 million rubles by 2030. At the same time, the document stipulates that “due to the current absence of a Russian orbital constellation of remote sensing radar spacecraft, government agencies have not formed the requirements for radar data.” Roscosmos and Sitronics (implementing a satellite constellation project for remote sensing) did not respond to Kommersant’s requests.

Commercial Director of the Laboratory of the Future, Pavel Kamnev, notes that the formation of a private satellite constellation implied the need to make changes to legislation: “The initiative can be considered as an additional burden on the state corporation, which it is unlikely to cope with alone, which means that private companies with relevant competencies.” The expert points out that aerospace survey data is sensitive to security issues. “Now there will be a procedure for providing this data and, accordingly, control over its distribution,” notes Mr. Kamnev.

“On the one hand, the commercialization of Roscosmos’ activities can stimulate the development of the domestic space industry and satellite constellation. On the other hand, it can limit access to remote sensing data for many organizations and research groups, which will complicate scientific and commercial projects,” says an engineer at the NTI Center “Digital Materials Science: New Materials and Substances” at MSTU. N. E. Bauman Artem Golovin.

The bill concerns remote sensing data from space, and this immediately excludes 90% of private players, clarifies Pavel Kamnev: “Performing aerial work using UAVs and the same photogrammetry using drones is not affected by this bill.” He adds that the bill could lead to market consolidation around Roscosmos as the main data provider, “which will limit competition and innovation in this area.” However, the expert clarifies, “if the project for the development of the domestic satellite constellation is successfully implemented, this may contribute to an increase in demand for services and remote sensing data in general.”

Alexey Zhabin, Tatyana Isakova