MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/. The engineering development of Russia’s super-heavy carrier rocket is scheduled for completion in October 2021, the company’s press service of the Progress Rocket and Space Center told TASS.
"At present, technical design specification is being coordinated with the head contractor [Energiya Rocket and Space Corporation] of the super-heavy carrier rocket. In line with it, the work is scheduled for completion for October 2021," the press service said.
Russian space corporation Roscosmos ordered the provisional design of Russia’s super-heavy rocket in late March 2018. As Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin said earlier, 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.
In a TASS interview, Rogozin said that the scientific council of Roscosmos gave its general approval to the provisional design.
Under the designers’ plans, the rocket is intended to deliver more up to 103 tonnes of cargo into the low near-Earth orbit at the first stage.
Russia intends to use the new super-heavy 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.
In line with 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.