Ekaterinburg. September 15. INTERFAX-Methane engines currently being developed for a superheavy lunar rocket will allow multiple use of the carrier stages, said Dmitry Rogozin, head of the state corporation Roscosmos.
"The methane engine will give us the opportunity to repeatedly use the stages of this superheavy rocket. (...) If we want to create this system, it must be reusable, " Rogozin told reporters.
"We hope to get them (engines - IF) by 2024-2025," he said.
Rogozin stressed that a superheavy-class rocket will be much more expensive than a medium-class rocket.
"A superheavy-class rocket will cost a lot of money, the program itself will be extremely expensive. If we are creating such a rocket for 20-30 years ahead, then we need to make it not from what was, (...) we need to make the most of this work in order to introduce the latest technologies, "the head of Roscosmos said.
On February 10, the head of the Progress Rocket and Space Center (RCC), Dmitry Baranov, said that the development of the Yenisei rocket, which was created for the lunar program, was suspended, the designers are waiting for a decision on changing the appearance.
"It is possible to correct its appearance. Now this issue has not yet been fully resolved, so now the development is put on pause. We are ready to continue working after the relevant decision is made. I think it's a matter of several months, I would say so, until the middle of this year, " Baranov told reporters.
On February 15, Rogozin announced that the new concept of the superheavy lunar rocket "Yenisei" will be presented within three to four months.
Earlier it was reported that the Space Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences, after the report of the general director of Roscosmos, recommended postponing the creation of a super-heavy-class launch vehicle intended for flights to the Moon for an indefinite period.
As noted in the document, after the reports of Rogozin and Ivan Moskatinyev, Deputy General Designer for the general design of NPO Lavochkin JSC, the Council recommended that the leadership of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Roscosmos "apply to the president with a proposal to adjust the state space program until 2030" in terms of postponing the creation of a superheavy-class space rocket complex to a later date."
Previously, it was planned to use a superheavy-class carrier rocket "Yenisei" for these purposes, for which it is planned to build a separate launch complex at the Vostochny cosmodrome.
