russia’s Space Industry Is Deorbiting

russia’s space industry is in a protracted crisis. The condition of “roscosmos”’ main enterprise, the “Energia” rocket and space corporation, is approaching critical. The company’s net loss for the first half of 2025 was 458.083 million rubles. The kremlin is trying to revive “Energia”, but the complex web of problems related to corruption, financing the war against Ukraine, sanctions, shortage of qualified personnel, slowdown in development, and degradation of production capacity continue to undermine these plans.

The russians have already postponed missions to the Moon and Venus. After the failed attempt of “Luna-25” (August 2023), the “Luna-26” spacecraft is planned to be launched only in 2028, while the “Venera-D” mission has been postponed until 2036 (it was planned for 2029).

At the same time, Administrator of the US space agency NASA Sean Duffy has said that the USA plans to place a working nuclear power plant on the Moon in the first quarter of 2030. A search is already underway for proposals from businesses to build a reactor which could produce up to 100 kilowatts of electricity. Even before the crisis, the rf was planning a similar project with China for 2033–2035.

The rf’s space industry is also unable to provide the state with high-quality space imagery. Five billion rubles are planned to be spent on these needs in the 2026 budget, although “roscosmos” has estimated the annual needs at nine trillion, which exceeds one-fifth of the federal budget.