Export revenue will help the Russian space industry ease its budget expenditures on modernization, Roscosmos head Igor Komarov said Tuesday.

"One of the state corporation's goals that was set by the government was the decrease of budget expenditures by increasing export potential of space production. We are now working on export that will allow us to decrease budget expenditures in reforming the industry," Komarov said during a Russian upper parliament session in Moscow.

Russia launched a sweeping reform of its space industry in 2013. As part of the reform program, Roscosmos will be merged with the United Rocket and Space Corporation - a corporation formed by the Russian government in 2013 to re-nationalise the Russian space industry - to create the Roscosmos State Corporation, thus consolidating all the enterprises active in the industry.

The agency has already slashed estimated costs to design a super-heavy rocket tenfold, from $11.5 billion to $1.15 billion.

In April, Komarov said that Russia's draft Federal Space Program for 2016-2025 envisions budget cuts by more than $15 billion.

Source: Sputnik News