Roscosmos Chief Promises Russian Super-Heavy Rocket Will Be Less Expensive Than American Versions

Third generation super heavy-lift launch vehicles are being developed in a number of countries. The Space Launch System (SLS) in the United States, the Yenisei in Russia, and Changzheng (Long March) 9 in China.

Head of Roskosmos Dmitry Rogozin has agreed with Elon Musk’s thesis about the extraordinarily high cost of the American SLS rocket, which Musk called a “tragedy”.

In November, sources in the space and rocket industry said that Roscosmos was designing a Yenisei super-heavy rocket capable of delivering a payload weighing at least 100 tonnes into low Earth orbit, and 27 tonnes to the Moon. And its heavier load-carrying version, Don, can carry 140 tonnes and 33 tonnes, respectively.

Such rockets will be used to launch the Orel transport spacecraft with a lunar descent-ascent module and parts of a lunar base to the Moon.

Sourse: sputniknews.com