MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. Russia, as a northern country, needs super-heavy rocket carriers, former chief of aerospace corporation Energia, Vitaly Lopota said.
He gave the following example to reporters that a rocket needed around 175 kilograms in launch weight to deliver a kilogram of payload to the geostationary orbit from the equator. This figure rises to 700 kilograms in a launch from Russian northern space center Plesetsk.
“Just imagine in which situation our country is, being located in the North. Therefore, we need strongest missiles to explore the space,” Lopota noted.
At least 75-ton rocket which Russia still lacks will be needed for far flights by a piloted spaceship being developed in Russia, he also recalled.
It was earlier reported that a super-heavy missile would be produced within the federal space program from 2016 to 2025. In January 2015, Russia will design the shape of a new rocket, chief of Federal Space Agency Roscosmos Oleg Ostapenko said. The Khrunichev space research center, aerospace agency Energia and aerospace center Progress will present their designs.