The Russian rocket industry is amazing, said the founder of SpaceX
NEW YORK, August 4. /TASS/. The founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk, said that he highly appreciates the Russian rocket industry and is studying many designs of rocket engines invented in Russia to create his own power plants.
"There were many great engine designs, I spend a lot of time studying the design of Russian engines. The Russian rocket industry is amazing, ..> they have created, I don't know, hundreds of different designs," he said in an interview published on Tuesday for the Internet portal Everyday Astronaut.
At the same time, Musk noted that the design development is not the most time-consuming process: in his opinion, it is more difficult to establish production and reduce costs, in particular for the Raptor engine created by SpaceX. "I'm trying to correct the prejudice that development is the most difficult part, it's not so<...>. The really super-complicated thing is how we produce the Raptor, which does not exceed $ 1 thousand per ton of thrust," he concluded.
SpaceX in July tested the Raptor engines of the Super Heavy launch vehicle, which is expected to launch the Starship spacecraft into low-Earth orbit for further flight to Mars. The spacecraft will be designed for 100 people. Earlier, Musk said that the first test flight of the ship in low-Earth orbit is likely to take place this year, but admitted that these plans may be revised.
