"We plan to launch a remote sensing satellite for the UAE in 2008," Anatoly Perminov said, adding that a related agreement had been signed on the sidelines of President Vladimir Putin's first visit to the Arab state.
Perminov said he hoped agreement with Kazakhstan, which suspended Russian Proton booster launches from the Baikonur space center following a crash early Thursday, would be reached within a month.
"I believe we will resolve the issue within a month," he said.
A Proton-M booster carrying a Japanese satellite exploded shortly after liftoff and came down in the central Kazakh steppe. The rocket was carrying highly toxic fuel, and an investigative team is yet to determine the scale of possible environmental damage.
Russia and Kazakhstan have an agreement on launches from Baikonur until 2050, for which Moscow pays Astana $115 million a year. But Kazakhstan recently said it would reconsider allowing further Proton flights because of the rocket fuel's toxicity and potential for catastrophic environmental contamination in the event of a launch failure.
