Ukraine’s space industry goes after private money

When massive fires broke out in the Chornobyl exclusion zone in April 2020, state officials only sounded the alarm when the smoke reached Kyiv, covering the sky with dust. In six days, over 3,000 hectares of land burned — the equivalent of 4,200 soccer fields.

Ukraine could have acted more quickly if its satellites had spotted the first signs of the blaze, according to Volodymyr Taftay, chief at the State Space Agency of Ukraine — the Ukrainian government agency responsible for space policy and programs.