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Russia to create super-heavy carrier rocket without foreign partners

The Roscosmos Scientific and Technical Council Chairman said earlier that the project of creating a super-heavy carrier rocket' d be included in Russia’s state program on space activity through 2030

LE BOURGET /France/, June 18. /TASS/. Foreign countries will not take part in the project of creating a Russian super-heavy carrier rocket, State Space Corporation Roscosmos Deputy CEO for International Cooperation Sergei Savelyev told TASS at the Le Bourget air show on Tuesday.

"The participation of foreign partners in the project of creating a super-heavy carrier rocket is not planned," the Roscosmos official said.

In 2016, Savelyev said that Russia had proposed that other countries should participate in creating a super-heavy carrier rocket.

Chairman of the Roscosmos Scientific and Technical Council Yuri Koptev earlier told TASS that the project of creating a super-heavy carrier rocket would be included in the state program on Russia’s space activity through 2030 and the proposals on it would be submitted by August 1, 2019.

In late March 2018, Roscosmos placed an order with the Energia Space Rocket Corporation for developing the conceptual design of a super-heavy carrier rocket. The contract was worth 1.6 billion rubles ($25 million), according to the price indicated on the government procurement website. The work under the contract is due to be implemented by October 31, 2019.

Roscosmos Chief Dmitry Rogozin earlier said the Yenisei new super-heavy carrier rocket would be assembled using the principle of a technological building kit where each part of the launcher should be an independent flight element. Under the designers’ plans, the rocket is intended to deliver more than 70 tonnes of cargo into the low near-Earth orbit at the first stage.

Under Russia’s federal target program, the first launch of the Yenisei super-heavy carrier rocket is due to take place in 2028. Russia will build the launch pad for the super-heavy carrier rocket at the Vostochny spaceport in the Russian Far East.

Russia intends to use the new rocket for missions to the Moon, including the landing of Russian cosmonauts on the surface of the Earth’s natural satellite. In Roscosmos’ estimates, the Yenisei will be able to deliver a 27-tonne payload to the Moon’s orbit.

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